What, me worry?

Once again I failed to get raptured. Guess I’ll have to wait for 2012, and fingers crossed, I’ll be spending the End of Days with John Cusack on a giant sea pod. Of course, I’m not expecting to rise up with the righteous. All that High School stuff probably pooched my chances of being picked for the Celestial Dodgeball Team. I’m not even sure I’d want to share my personal space with the True Believers as I suspect they are a rather rigid lot, and probably not at all interested in collecting children’s picture books, especially those reviewed in 32 Pages. Having said that, I do have a kick-ass version of the Bible illustrated by Barry Moser, which I’ve yet to review because I would have to read it, and well, life is short and there may be only 19 months until we all pop our collective clogs. So, while we wait to be smited upside the head, here are some rapture-worthy items from the corporeal world.

Boshblobberbosh! J. Patrick Lewis Named Children’s Poet Laureate of the United States! Congrats to this amazing author and poet who has been not once but twice reviewed in this blog, with more to come. See my ‘appreciations’ of Boshblobberbosh and Black Cat Bone if you don’t believe me.

50 Watts presents Walter Schnackenberg Part 3. Deliciously weird. I have an endless appetite for this sort of thing, and lucky for me, and all of us, 50 Watts keeps our plates full.

Two excellent posts from Ptak Science Books~The hilarious and deeply strange anatomical alphabet of emotions. Also, a potpourri of ‘pretty tendons, rhino chin hair, weeds of Mantegna’, and Homer Simpson.

From the Horn Book, “Lovin’ on the Picture Book“, courtesy of a tweet from SevenImp (Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.) Gotta say, Lovin’ the Horn Book and Lovin’ SevenImp (especially now that she’s on Twitter!)

Another superb post from Playing By the Book from her Reading Round Europe series. This time we’re going to Denmark, where it might be advisable to bring your own picture book! Also from Zoe, 49 brilliant picture books chosen by leading illustrators. Some amazing choices here, although I am particularly taken with I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen, to be published by Random House this fall.

Courtesy of BibliOdyssey~Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens It’s great to be reminded every now and then of the genius of Authur Rackham. There is nobody else like him.

Better book titles from the Huffington Post, via PWKidsbookshelf. “If you don’t want the titles of your favorite kids’ books ruined, don’t read these variations.” This kind of post is ever-present on the internet, and never fails to entertain.

OK. Here’s my confession: I can’t stop watching this Ultimate Dog Tease from Utube, courtesy of Klaatu42’s Talking Animals blog. This is one of the funniest videos I’ve ever seen. My first viewing was a few days after it was posted and the hits were at 5 million. It’s now close to 30 million, which is the population of Canada, and I am responsible for a significant chunk of those viewings. This guy has captured the essence of DOG.

Speaking of dogs, from my own hometown, Harold Pearse-The dog days of an artist’s sabbatical. For some examples of his dog art, see here.

From the Guardian, Allan Ahlberg – a life in writing. Love this guy, and I love his book My Brother’s Ghost.

Interesting post from Charlie Parker’s Lines and Colors blog~Brain scans show looking at beautiful art is like looking at someone you love. Is it a bad thing that I’m drawn to Expressionist art?

Next post (if I’m not raptured): Dogs. The maple kind, yeah.