Let me just say that our readers appear to love a good GiveAway. This book was one you really all wanted to read. There is everything to love about this book: A homeschooling family living in a post-apartheid South Africa, on a quest to discover the past. You can read an interview with the author, Taryn Hayes, over here, but right now let’s see who the lucky winner is:
Here are all the entries:
Muddled up and popped into a bowl…
Some flipping and flopping and the winner is:
And comment #24 was Paige: Submitted on 2013/05/13 at 11:53 pm Would love to win this one…
Congratulations: Paige, you can expect an email from us in the next couple of days!!!
I would like to say a huge thank you to Taryn Hayes, who gave us a copy of the book to review and another signed copy to give-away. As usual we were not paid to write this post and any opinions expressed are entirely our own. I should add that while the book is available at all leading stores the best price is available from our Sunday Snippet Book Donor, Christian Book Discounters.
Tags: GiveAways and Swaps · Sunday Snippet
Table Mountain is a National Park and a world heritage site, right in the centre of Cape Town it stretches right down the Peninsula, almost into our backyard. This means that wherever you are in Cape Town you are always only a short distance from the great outdoors. Now I’ve never met a Cape Town local that didn’t claim Table Mountain as their very own. We are really proud of our Mountain and one of my children has a dream to get to the very top of it. The very top is quite an achievement and we set out to try. Now while we have steps and a mountain behind our house they are nothing compared to the steps associated with actually getting up Table Mountain.
Let’s start at the beginning… and some of us are still in training regarding backpacks…
I’m all for a water bottle and a warm top, a sketchbook and some pencil crayons. But a Beano annual, a map of Austria!!! Eventually we were ready to go…
Hands were held and conversations eager…
The route decided upon… the sign board claims about a 2 hour hike… well that depends entirely on what planet you are on and just how long it takes that planet to rotate on its axis… because 2 hours on this earth it certainly wasn’t!!!
We were eager, the mountain spectacular…
And let’s face it we are somewhat used to stairs… lots of stairs…
Okay I retract that last statement, within 100 meters of the start I knew I was in way over my head… chasing little gazelles up the mountain…
And that receding skyline…
The flowers were beautiful…
Anytime I reached somewhere cool and refreshing…
Little folk were ready to get going again…
The rock just kept on coming…
The city unfolded beneath us… on a very misty day – and the cranes were peeping out of the harbour and the foghorn was crying out it’s message…
And hundreds of tourists walk this route – powering their way up Table Mountain speaking French, German, Korean… a league of nations really. All so encouraging… just keep going, just one more step, take a rest… but to the local family that was springing up the mountain like jack-rabbits: This is not nearly half-way and definitely not two thirds of the way – talk about false hope!!!
More steps… more rocks…
I was aiming for the shade…
Always just out of reach…
And the Peninsula mountains unfolding is somewhat spectacular… gasp…
And the city further and further away…
Rest…
Nearly at the shade…
Giant steps all the way…
Finally we made it…
To the shade… and spectacular!!!
The city has vanished…
And for those of you who are still climbing… if this was labour then you have just hit transition. Folk will pass you and say – “nearly there” … “Just ten more minutes”… do not believe them. The shade is really about halfway and the rest of the way is somewhat vertical. There is only one thing to do – take a seat, evaluate your entire life, eat some chocolate and head on up – because at this stage there is just no going back…
It’s a long way down…
And a long way up…
Don’t look back… and yes they call those stairs!!!
And suddenly we were up at the top…
Looking down on folk still coming and going…
And they tell you the top is flat – don’t believe it, there is no flat. The top is beautiful, but it is not flat.
Half the city was still asleep and under blankets…
The other half not so much. Incredible really, that you can be in the wild and in the middle of the city…
And after a rest and some water and more chocolate… there was a revival and some folk were actually running about… not me so much!!! I actually learnt a lesson on the day: There comes a time in your life where “mind over matter” is irrelevant… the mind might be strong, eager in fact – but the body just not so much… who knew!!! Not to mention that my sweet family is incredibly patient and will wait and wait and wait for their “mother person!!!”
At that stage in the day, that had taken twice as long as we expected, we took the shortest people down the quickest way…
The race was on… my big guys clambered down the mountain and I was very happy to oblige the little people with an astronomically priced ride… Somebody had to go with them!!!
Four hours up and about fifteen minutes down!!!
Yes we climbed Table Mountain, all the way up that deep crack – to the cable station and down again…
Just one problem… We were close… but not close enough. The dream is to go ever so much higher, all the way to Maclear’s Beacon at the top. We (being me) just couldn’t face it on the day… and so we are back in training… stairs behind our house… because we are going to have to do it all again to reach the dream and touch the tippy top of Table Mountain. And once we have touched the tippy top, then I think my children will claim the mountain as their own, as true Cape Town locals do.
Tags: Cape Town · Outings · Saturday Spot
Who knew that May would dash by… and who remembered that it was circus day!!!
And here are this weeks links…
- Friday was Food Revolution Day and I just loved Meet Me At Mike’s Post… there is everything to love about Spicy Indian Soup and Dosa!!!
- I love the never-ending craft table on Simple Kids this week… I think I may have to re-arrange my house again!!!
- I really enjoy following Making them Readers, and this post featured my favourite childhood series: Favourite Childhood Books and I would since we are talking about books I think I would very much like to take a visit to an Enid Blyton Exhibition…
- I loved this: Drawing with a BIRO on Alisa Burke’s site. We may well be drawing in Biro for art this week…
- I just can not resist outdoor play spaces… Childhood 101 always has the best of them!!!
- If you have ever wondered what a homeschool parent looks like, then look no further than Penelope Trunk’s article: You’re the type of Parent Who Chooses to Homeschool. I had to chuckle at #4… there are indeed some folk in the world who have no idea where the box is!!!
- Yuppie Chef’s Eat For Earth 2013… We will be visiting Yuppie Chef this week, it’s going to be a blast, we will keep you posted. All to support Soil for Life, you have to take a look at their work!!!
And the se7en + 1th link:
- A Blast From the Past: And here are a couple of links to posts, this week, from previous years:
And here is something fun for locals…
The Historical LANDMARKS HUNT a race against time by train!!!
Wednesday 29 May 2013 from 08h30 tip 14h00
Join A Whale Of A Heritage Route in this family-oriented/team-building race against time by train to uncover various historical landmarks in the vicinity of railway stations between Newlands and Kalk Bay. At least one photo clue will be a decoy whereas another will be an “ambush” designed to distract and delay you!
First prize is a substantive meal voucher for two. Teams of 1s, 2s, 3s and 4s are welcome.
Start at 08h30 at Claremont Station. Finish at Kalk Bay Station.
Bring along a smart phone, a magnifying glass and a pencil or pen. The fee is R45-00 pp, children aged 3 – 12 half price.
For further information or to register, please e-mail participant names to awhaleofaheritageroute@gmail.com
And that’s us – hoping you are all had a restful weekend!!!
Tags: Fabulous Friday Fun
I was absolutely devastated to hear of the awful accident and the loss of my friend Kathreen and her husband, at WhipUp. Good friends, we swapped posts from time to time and emailed frequently. Our daughters are friends across the ocean. Honestly I am so deeply sad and do not have words to say. Only that have I have to take a little break from the internet and all that it offers and I am spending the weekend pottering and planting.
My heart has been warmed by the love shared with crafty bloggers around the world, and how many friends we shared without even knowing it. Often our internet friends are our best friends. We may be separated by continents, we may be separated by oceans… but really we are only a keyboard away. I value my blogging friends so much, wherever they are. I think it is safe to say that Kathreen, is leaving a legacy of brave and adventurous ideas, and as a community we are going to miss her sorely.
The children are so on my heart, their year of adventure, traveling around Australia as a family has been cut short… in a horrible and devastating way and my prayers go out to them. A trust fund has been set up for her children, who are staying with their grandparents and if you would like to support them then the information is available here.
Tags: Home Truths · Our Events
If you mention Anthony Horowitz in our house then all ears perk up. When we heard he would be in Cape Town for the Franschhoek Literary Festival we were so excited. And when PanMacmillan South Africa asked us if we would like to interview him… it was a unanimous “YES”… and then we waited months and months and months… until the day arrived!!!
Top Writing Tip from Anthony Horowitz
Be passionate about what you write… There is something magical about your readers, they absorb your story by telepathy. If you feel happy and excited while you are writing then your readers will feel it too. If you feel an adventure unfolding, then your readers will feel it too. Does he have a favourite book that he has written? Yes, the one he is writing at the time is always his favourite, his best and the one he most believes in.
Anthony Horowitz at the Launch of Oblivion
But just take a step back… Last night he had a book signing at Exclusive Books at the V&A Waterfront, for the launch of his book Oblivion. And we were so glad we went because heaps of the questions we planned to ask were asked last night…
Here’s our review of Oblivion from a previous post…
When this book, Oblivion, arrived for review my sons actually leapt for joy. The final in an absolutely gripping series: The Power of Five. Five Teen GateKeepers are scattered around the world and their quest is to defeat the Old Ones… ending in a massive battle in Antarctica. Another supernatural/distopian teen read I thought, I take it back. I should have known better than to idly read the first chapter because I’m on page “300 and something” and will not sleep until I’ve conquered the book…
- What is your typical writing day like?
There is no such thing as a typical day… He likes to keep things interesting and has a lot of variety in his days. All sorts of writing… movies, books, articles. Writing can kill you with repetitive strain injuries, huddled over your desk day after day. He does a lot of walking to compensate. Otherwise he is up in his office: “Just me, my dog and a bottle of whisky – for the dog of course.” He does work 10 hours a day 7 days a week. And a book takes him 5-7 months to write – well except his latest Oblivion, which took twice as long. That was 200 thousand words long and was literally like a dump truck of words pouring onto his desk.
- How does he keep track of all his ideas?
If an idea is a good one then he will remember it… he does have a notebook for jotting done facts and notes, but really if an idea is worth writing about it will keep resurfacing. He loves real writing with an ink pen, and the sound of the nib scratching away on a page. He likes the idea of using the same instrument as writers of the past, like Dickens, say.
- When did he know he would be a writer?
When he was about eight. He was in the most awful, draconian boarding school in North London, and in the dormitory at night he would became the teller of tales. You cannot write without reading and reading came to save him from the awful environment he was in. His favourite books were by Willard Price, Ian Fleming and of course he loved Tintin.
- How does he do his research for his books?
He really loves to meet people and talk about their jobs, he likes to travel to get a feel for the environment… He couldn’t visit a space station, but he could speak to an astronaut. When he wrote about an oil rig he had to go on one to get a sense for the hardness of it, the smell, the grittiness…
- Will there be more Alex Rider Books?
He is done with teenage spies, he doesn’t want to be the author that write books that get less and less interesting… thinner and thinner in content as the series drags on. He wants each book to be better and better – so there is no room for endless books of the same genre. Time to move on and he has some good ideas up his sleeve…
- Where Does He Get Names for His Characters And Book Titles?
From the queues of folk who ask him to sign books. A Lot of his characters are folk he knows: Best friends and past school teachers. The teachers never make it in his books, they have a tendency to die dramatic deaths!!! The name Alex Rider – well he did some market research with a really large group of folk responding to his survey. Alex came out tops again and again… and Maurice was bottom of the pile. And Rider… well Rider sounds like an adventurous name, someone who is going places. Well getting the right title is all about getting the right words on the page a good title is: A meeting of strong words written on the cover. Words that don’t reveal everything but make you want to dig deeper…
- What About Violence in Children’s Books?
“Frankly,” he says, “There just isn’t enough of it.” He loves to include wild and wacky deaths in his books… no lingering illnesses wrecking havoc on families, no children dying – there is nothing funny about that and nobody enjoys it. But baddies being squashed by a piano falling out of the window… or suddenly crushed under a pile of coins. There are so many intriguing ways to kill a man. He loves to include the element of surprise and it is always a little bit unexpected and amusing. In Stormbreaker the attack by a “Portuguese Man of War” jellyfish was based entirely on a time when one of his sons was attacked by a jellyfish in Barbados. As his son was writhing in pain he leant over him with a notebook asking for details. And that is one thing you will find in all his writing – details… he always explores all the senses: How does it sound, what did it smell like, what did it taste like… details. This is a man that likes to share details.
And the se7en + 1th…
- Tell Us About Your Family:
His older son, Nicholas, performed almost every single adventurous deed that occurred in his books. His stunt man really: paragliding, deep see diving – you name it he did it. The ultimate action man. His younger son, Cass, is his finest critic and made him rewrite about 40000 thousand words in Oblivion – that’s a lot of words!!!
Our Interview with Anthony Horowitz
And so we had a bit of a sleepless night trying to think of ingenious questions to ask… And of course there is a fine line between eight over-excited kids leaping all over the show and eight kids just a little overawed by a very fine setting and one of the top writers in their lives’ ever!!!
- What Does He Love To Eat?
We warmed up with this question, turns out he is a tea and chocolate cookies man. Only he is on a chocolate sabbatical until well forever… about October!!!
- The Hardest Part About Your Job?
Loneliness. He spends hours sitting writing, churning out word for twelve hours day after day – and he loves interacting with people. We could tell!!! We really enjoyed listening to him talking about his work and the adventures he has been on!!!
- How Does He Keep His Books Plausible?
Good research means he can back up his story with the facts. And then passion, a writer has to have passion, without that readers won’t get caught up in the story. He told us a little from his book: Think about a satellite or space station, they could come crashing down to the earth at any time – they need boosters to keep them up in space. That being said, the chances of anything crashing into a city is remote, considering how most of the world is actually ocean. Have to say he was very convincing and we wondered about the truth in any of his words after that!!!
- How Did He Get from Wanting to Write Books to Actually Writing?
Well… his first job as a “writer” was as a copywriter for an advertising agency… he was “Rubbish at it.” He felt that every thing had to rhyme: “Gotta say thanks for the best of banks.” But what he loved was his office with a desk and a lamp, a copy machine and an endless supply of paper. At the time he was also having an affair with a gal way higher up the corporate chain – who became and has been his wife for the past twenty five years… So he was fired. But he got the girl!!!
- How Does He Keep Himself From Revealing His Next Book?
Some ideas get better when you share them… and some are so good that you have to keep them to yourself. This question did raise the very interesting fact that he has a “Cabinet of Curiosity.” Hidden behind a large bookshelf in his study is a room with shelves and all sorts of interesting artefacts like: a human skull, an eel in formaldehyde and a heroine needle used in a real crime.
- What is the Biggest Problem with Being Famous?
He is a lucky, as an author, most people know his name but few people know his face. It is a kind of incognito fame. The problem with being a celebrity now rather than even five years ago, is that every single person owns a camera. You cannot do anything without somebody taking a photograph of you.
- What is His Favourite Book Ever and What is He Reading Right Now?
His favourite book ever is Great Expectations. And right now he is reading a book about a pick pocket in nineteenth century Chicago. He finds that he reads a ton for research and not a whole lot for leisure.
And the Se7en + 1th…
- If He Could Swap Lives With Anyone Would That Be?
He had to think about this one for about a fraction of a second!!! And then he decided that he would like to swap with his younger son… then he would have himself as a dad and that would be pretty cool and he likes the idea of getting to do a couple of things again – a do-over!!!
His Next Book: Russian Roulette
Russian Roulette, Launching in October: About Yassen Gregorovich, a terrible assassin – and in which Alex makes an appearance. So many books are about good conquering evil, but what if the call to save the world is from the villains instead? In this book, the link between Alex and Yassen Gregorovich is revealed… and Anthony Horowitz explores the theme: “What make a boy choose to become wicked?”
The Next Great Project
Well there are movies, always movies. But he is thinking of a trilogy… each book a cliff hanger, forcing you to read on and on. He has a fabulous idea that he isn’t sharing with anyone. In fact, he would like to hire an actor to represent him and submit it to his agent anonymously. Totally pretend to be someone else… he feels that as he gets older he gets further and further away from his readers… he would like to be someone else… someone younger, someone from another country… just someone different. And the risk… he may get rejected!!! That in itself could be a book!!!
What can I say, what a fabulous author interview… he was brilliant at answering questions and going way beyond the extra-mile in sharing information. I have a feeling we are going to be hearing “Anthony Horowitz said:…” around our house for the longest time. Not to mention, as soon as I post this post I am going to think – I should told you all this or that!!! I did say we would have a week of author interviews… and I really hope you enjoy this one as much as we did!!!
Thank-you so much PanMacmillan South Africa for inviting us to interview Anthony Horowitz. And thank-you Anthony Horowitz for enduring the gang from se7en + 1 so graciously!!!
Tags: Our Events · Reviews · What We Are Reading
I know – some folks are braver than others… I am not sure that I would invite this gang over to paint my walls…
We were unable to drag the youngest artist away from his brushes for a photo!!!
But the new ArtJamming Stall at the Paddocks in Milnerton knows no fear and invited us over on Saturday… Some of us couldn’t put our aprons on fast enough!!!
One person was a little timid to get going… but don’t even ask what he has been doing with the tooth paste, since he has discovered the art of mural painting!!!
Other folk had no fear of the wall and literally dove in…
And so the transformation began…
Way up high…
And way down low…
They could not stop…
Brushes and mixing…
And masterpieces…
And would you look at all this paint… magical loveliness, an endless supply!!! Wooohooo!!!!
The bigger guys had their own white wall to go on with…
And they set to work…
The work continued…
And I wandered around and got my fill of art heaven… papers galore…
Brushes…
Paints…
Supplies as far as the eye can see… And behind the easels…
The painting continued…
And Zebras were there too…
With bags filled with…
Icy tea…
A whole new adventure… Bos Tea…
And judging from all the empty cans… I sense it was a hit all-round!!!
It took a couple of hours…
And a heap of busy-ness…
And just a little bit of mess…
And some cleaning up…
The walls were covered…
And I day say the art was Jammed…
Thank you so much ArtJamming at the Paddocks, we had a fabulous time!!!
I think we are going to need a blank wall in our house and some white wash paint every couple of weeks!!!
Tags: Cape Town · Outings · Tuesday Art Task
It has been a while since a “What We Are Reading Post…” but trust me we have as usual been immersed in piles of books!!! From time to time we join Playing By the Book in their Monthly Series of Themed Book Reviews and when I told my kids that the theme this month was inventions and inventors a towering pile of books arrived on my desk – all of them absolutely vital to this post. There has been a week of thinning the pile down to about twenty five books… who knew this would be such a popular theme!!!
We started by choosing this group of books as reference books because – well everyone should have a set of books of the latest and greatest gadgets clearly referencing all sorts of details. This group of Dorling Kindersley books are packed with facts and gadgets. They are packed with robots, computers, chips and fibers, space shuttles and appliances… if there is technology then these books have them!!! If you do take these books from the library then be prepared to renew them often… they are the kind of books that you need to dip into again and again and again.
And then there is this book, which is part of the Brainwaves Series… the Brainwaves are little folk who are scattered through out the book sharing factoids and information about a multitude of the greatest inventions. The books in this series are fun and packed with facts – huge fold out pages with even more little snippets to discover… microscopes to movies, lightbulbs and even flops!!!
And here are the Hoods favourite books on inventions and inventors…
Hood #1: Because The Way Things Work is a classic and who can resist a classic… discovering how things work from a collection of very amusing mammoths… Everything from simple machines to intricate devices. There is a balance between art and technology here and this book appeals to the artist in my kids. I tell you the truth – pages and pages of mammoths have been drawn in our home and collected for for future generations to admire because of this book!!!
Hood #2: Well for our techno-geek, spy in training – you just can not beat Anthony Horowitz and his Alex Rider Series… and the Gadget book is really a book full of technical drawings, blue-prints in fact, describing and explaining the devices used by Alex Rider in his suspense filled spy-adventures.
Hood #3: This is one of our school science books in grade 4… well my kids love this book and go back to it again and again and again… This book explains the history and discovery of literally dozens of inventions. It is packed with snippets to read and illustrations to amuse… Also because it is an Usborne book there are literally dozens of links to explore on their fabulous Quicklink page. Their Quicklinks are brilliant, Usborne books have taken the leg work out of finding interesting online resources for kids and they present them in a useful way on their website.
Hood #4: This book is an incredible read… not just another list of inventions and how they were made… this is a book with the back story behind many incredible and innovative inventions: a windmill made from plastic lids and old flip flops in Malawi; a student who makes refrigerators from scrap metal in Namibia… Inventions that just never quite made it. And there is even a chapter on biomimicry. Inventions that you might need for a trip to Mars, or anywhere in outer space, really. The book is filled with blue-print type drawings, dozens of photographs and of course Wallace and Gromit to lead you through it all.
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Hood #5: We have reviewed this book before, it is a pop up book with a difference. Firstly and most importantly it isn’t flimsy – there are few things worse than a flimsy pop-up book. And it is packed with snippets and facts hidden here there and everywhere. If you are looking to discover the ins and outs of the fabulous invention of the loo roll, then just unravel it!!!
Hood #6:
This is a book that deals with an invention chapter by chapter… and how they are made. The book deals with how the objects are made… guitars, ballet shoes and even the good old pencil. A really good read and a book that is interesting and engaging to read to your kids – more than once… because you are going to be reading this one a few more times than once!!!
Hood #7: Minton is a family favourite and part of a series of adventures that this lizard and his sidekick friend the turtle go on. Now Minton is a bit of a risk taker and loves to try new things… Turtle however is the not-so-quiet-voice-of-reason. They always find themselves in a bit of a pickle and have to rescue themselves, which they do by inventing some sort of vehicle from things that you will find in your recycling box. Here’s a link to one of them, How Minton creates a boat. They are fun and totally do-able projects for little people and all my kids have grown up loving them. These books are really hard to find – if you spot them, grab them!!!
And the se7en + 1th Books:
Hood #8: Who can resist the Big Ball of String… and the boy that can invent anything with his big ball of string… Surely every child that has read this book has spent years collecting all sorts of strings and string-like things because of it!!! This is really a book that has fired up imaginations for the longest time and no amount of new fangled play-things will ever take away the joy of a fine piece of string!!!
That’s us… if you are looking for more books all about inventions then head over to Playing by the Book to see what other readers have recommended.
Tags: Science · Se7en at School · What We Are Reading
