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Some Kind of Mirror: Creating Marilyn Monroe
by Amanda KonkleAlthough she remains one of the all-time most recognizable Hollywood icons, Marilyn Monroe has seldom been ranked among the greatest actors of her generation. Critics have typically viewed her film roles as mere extensions of her sexpot star persona. Yet this ignores both the subtle variations between these roles and the acting skill that went into the creation of Monroe’s public persona. Some Kind of Mirror offers the first extended scholarly analysis of Marilyn Monroe’s film performances, examining how they united the contradictory discourses about women’s roles in 1950s America. Amanda Konkle suggests that Monroe’s star persona resonated with audiences precisely because it engaged with the era’s critical debates regarding femininity, sexuality, marriage, and political activism. Furthermore, she explores how Monroe drew from the techniques of Method acting and finely calibrated her performances to better mirror her audience’s anxieties and desires. Drawing both from Monroe’s filmography and from 1950s fan magazines, newspaper reports, and archived film studio reports, Some Kind of Mirror considers how her star persona was coauthored by the actress, the Hollywood publicity machine, and the fans who adored her. It is about why 1950s America made Monroe a star, but it is also about how Marilyn defined an era.
Some Like It Wilder: The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder (Screen Classics #Sccl)
by Gene D. PhillipsA biography of the six-time Oscar-winning director of films like Some Like It Hot and Double Indemnity, featuring analysis of his work.Although his career spanned fifty years and included more than fifty films, Austrian-American film director Billy Wilder (1906-2002) may be best known for the legendary shot of Marilyn Monroe’s dress billowing over a subway grating in The Seven Year Itch (1955). This “shot seen round the world” is representative not only of Hollywood’s golden era of cinema but also of one of its most prolific and brilliant directors. Wilder, whose filmography includes such classics as Sunset Boulevard (1950), Sabrina (1954), Witness for the Prosecution (1957), and Some Like It Hot (1959), is often remembered for his versatility, biting wit, and passion for challenging social and moral conventions.Author Gene D. Phillips departs from the traditional biography in Some Like It Wilder, offering new insights into the acclaimed director’s professional and private life. In preparation for the book, Phillips conducted personal interviews with Wilder and other key players from the legendary director’s life and times. Phillips’s unique combination of analysis and biographical detail brings Wilder to life, as both an artist and man.Phillips traces Wilder’s path from Berlin, where he worked as a scriptwriter for one of the city’s largest studios, to Hollywood, where he would quickly establish himself as a premier film director. Forming a partnership with writer-producer Charles Brackett, Wilder directed the classic films Five Graves to Cairo (1943), Double Indemnity (1945), and The Lost Weekend (1945), which earned Academy Awards for best picture, best director, and best screenplay. During the 1960s, Wilder continued to direct and produce controversial comedies, including Kiss Me Stupid (1964) and The Apartment (1960). The Apartment brought Wilder another round of Oscars for best picture, best director, and best screenplay.Wilder’s maverick approach and independent artistic vision pushed boundaries and ensured his legacy as one of the Hollywood greats. Sharply written, Some Like It Wilder serves as a comprehensive companion to Wilder’s films, offering a personalized and heartfelt account of the life and genius of this compelling director.Praise for Some Like It Wilder“Featuring Gene D. Phillips’ unique, in-depth critical approach, Some Like It Wilder . . . provides a groundbreaking overview of a filmmaking icon . . . . This definitive biography reveals that Wilder was, and remains, one of the most influential directors in filmmaking.” —Turner Classic Movies“[Phillips] goes beyond the surface and deep into the complex mind and soul of the famous film director . . . . This book is, in my view, definitive.” —Vincent LoBrutto, author of Martin Scorsese: A Biography
Some New Kind of Kick: A Memoir
by Kid Congo PowersAn intimate, coming-of-age memoir by legendary guitarist Kid Congo Powers, detailing his experiences as a young, queer Mexican-American in 1970s Los Angeles through his rise in the glam rock and punk rock scenes.Kid Congo Powers has been described as a &“legendary guitarist and paragon of cool&” with &“the greatest resume ever of anyone in rock music." That unique imprint on rock history stems from being a member of not one but three beloved, groundbreaking, and influential groups—Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the Cramps, and last but not least, The Gun Club, the wildly inventive punk-blues band he co-founded.Some New Kind of Kick begins as an intimate coming of age tale, of a young, queer, Chicano kid, growing up in a suburb east of East LA, in the mid-&‘70s, exploring his sexual identity through glam rock. When a devastating personal tragedy crushes his teenage dreams, he finds solace and community through fandom, as founder (&‘The Prez&’) of the Ramones West Coast fan club, and immerses himself in the delinquent chaos of the early LA punk scene.A chance encounter with another superfan, in the line outside the Whiskey-A-Go-Go to get into a Pere Ubu concert, changes the course of his life entirely. Jeffrey Lee Pierce, a misfit Chicano punk who runs the Blondie fan club, proposes they form a band. The Gun Club is born. So begins an unlikely transition from adoring fan to lauded performer. In Pierce, he finds brotherhood, a creative voice, and a common cause, but also a shared appetite for self-destruction that threatens to overwhelm them both.Quirky, droll, and heartfelt, with a pitch-perfect evocation of time and place, and a wealth of richly-drawn supporting characters, Some New Kind of Kick is a memoir of personal transformation, addiction and recovery, friendship and belonging, set against the relentless creativity and excess of the &’70s and &’80s underground music scenes.
Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald
by Matthew J. Bruccoli&“Epic indeed, this is the definitive biography of Fitzgerald, plain and simple. There&’s no reason to own another.&” —Library Journal The Great Gatsby, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender Is the Night, &“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.&” These works and more elevated F. Scott Fitzgerald to his place as one of the most important American authors of the twentieth century. After struggling to become a screenwriter in Hollywood, Fitzgerald was working on The Last Tycoon when he died of a heart attack in 1940. He was only forty-four years old. Fitzgerald left behind his own mythology. He was a prince charming, a drunken author, a spoiled genius, the personification of the Jazz Age, and a sacrificial victim of the Depression. Here, Matthew J. Bruccoli strips away the façade of this flawed literary hero. He focuses on Fitzgerald as a writer by tracing the development of his major works and his professional career. Beginning with his Midwest upbringing and first published works as a teenager, this biography follows Fitzgerald&’s life through the successful debut of This Side of Paradise, his turbulent marriage to Zelda Sayre, his time in Europe among The Lost Generation, the disappointing release of The Great Gatsby, and his ignominious fall. As former US poet laureate James Dickey said, &“the spirit of the man is in the facts, and these, as gathered and marshalled by Bruccoli over thirty years, are all we will ever need. But more important, they are what we need.&”
Some of My Best Friends Are Monsters (Camp Haunted Hills #2)
by Bruce CovilleCamp Haunted Hills is the movie camp where anything can happen and usually does. This time the campers are turning into monsters. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved. (Illustrations described.)
Somebody Everybody Listens To
by Suzanne SuppleeRetta Lee Jones is blessed with a beautiful voice and has big dreams of leaving her tiny Tennessee hometown. With a beaten down car, a pocketful of hard-earned waitressing money, and stars in her eyes, Retta sets out to make it big in Nashville. But the road to success isn?t a smooth one in a town filled with dreamers, and Retta begins to have doubts: can she make her mark while staying true to herslf? From the breakout author of Artichoke?s Heart, this bighearted novel is a must-read for anyone who has ever chased a dream (or hummed along with Taylor Swift). .
Somebody To Love?: A Rock n' Roll Memoir
by Grace Slick Andrea CaganGrace Slick was the original "great rock diva." As the lead singer of Jefferson Airplane, which produced classics like "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love," she was at the forefront of the sixties and seventies counterculture. Now she offers a revealing portrait of the complex woman behind the rock-outlaw image and delivers a behind-the-scenes, no-holds-barred view of rock's grandest stages. Somebody to Love? tells what it was really like during, and after, the summer of love - and how one remarkable woman survived it all to remain today as vibrant and rebellious as ever.
Somebody: The Reckless Life and Remarkable Career of Marlon Brando
by Stefan KanferMarlon Brando will never cease to fascinate us: for his triumphs as an actor (On the Waterfront, The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris), as well as his disasters; for the power of the screen portrayals he gave, and for his turbulent, tumultuous personal life. Seamlessly intertwining the man and the work, Kanfer takes us through Brando's troubled childhood, to his arrival in New York in the 1940s, where he studied with the legendary Stella Adler, and at the age of twenty-three became the toast of Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire. Kanfer expertly examines each of Brando's films - from The Men in 1950 to The Score in 2001 - making clear the evolution of Brando's singular genius, while also shedding light on the cultural evolution of Hollywood itself. And he brings into focus Brando's self-destructiveness, his lifelong dissembling, his deeply ambivalent feelings towards his chosen vocation, and the tragedies that shadowed his final years. This is a never-before-seen portrait of one of the most extraordinary talents of the twentieth century.
Someday Is Today: 22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel Your Creative Life
by Matthew DicksREALIZE YOUR CREATIVE DREAMS — STARTING TODAYAre you good at dreaming about what you’re going to accomplish “someday” but not good at finding the time and getting started? How will you actually make that decision and do it? The answer is this book, which offers proven, practical, and simple ways to turn random minutes throughout your days into pockets of productivity, and dreams into accomplishments.In addition to presenting his own winning strategies for getting from dreaming to doing, Matthew Dicks offers insights from a wide range of creative people — writers, editors, performers, artists, and even magicians — on how to augment inspiration with motivation. His actionable steps will help you:silence negative messages from family, friends, and teacherseliminate time-sucking activities (and people)be willing to make terrible thingsfind supporters here, there, and everywherecultivate optimism in the face of negativity and obstaclesEach strategy is accompanied by amusing and inspiring personal and professional anecdotes and a clear plan of action. Someday Is Today will give you every tool to get started and finish that _________ [fill in the blank].
Someone Has to Set a Bad Example: An Anne Taintor Collection
by Anne TaintorThe phenomenally popular artist wittily reveals the realities behind images of perfect women in midcentury marketing. We can&’t be good all the time, and no one knows it better than Anne Taintor. This generous collection of her most popular artwork includes more than 150 images in categories such as friendship (a real friend will help you hide the body), motherhood (WOW! I get to give birth AND change diapers!), money (screw the budget!), attitude (let a smirk be your umbrella), and more. Also featuring an introduction by Taintor, this hilarious volume perfectly captures the deliciously sarcastic, snarky, and honest things that most women have found themselves thinking at one time or another. If you&’re looking for trouble, look no further. . . .
Someone to Watch Over Me: The Life and Music of Ben Webster
by Frank Buchmann-MollerBorn in Kansas City in 1909, tenor saxophonist Ben Webster worked with a number of great jazz orchestras before becoming Duke Ellington's first major tenor soloist. His brilliant and troubled career spanned nearly half a century. This biography is based upon interviews with more than 50 people in the U. S. and Europe as well as excerpts from European periodicals and a study of all of Webster's known recordings. Büchmann-Møller is head of the jazz archive at Carl Neilsen Academy of Music in Odense, Denmark. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Something I Said? Innuendo and Out the Other
by Michael FeldmanWitticisms from the American humorist.
Something Spectacular: The True Story of One Rockette's Battle with Bulimia
by Greta GleissnerGreta Gleissner, a longtime professional dancer, dreamed her whole life of becoming a Rockette. Then she became one-and she fell into the grips of a powerful eating disorder that began poison her life from the inside out. Something Spectacularis Gleissner’s raw, personal chronicle of the devastating effects bulimia exacts upon her life during her time as a Rockette. As her disorder takes over, she begins to lead a dual life: happy-go-lucky on the outside; tortured by obsessive, self-destructive voices on the inside. Immersed in an environment in which even talent is secondary to appearance, Gleissner hides her disorder by any means necessary-lying, cheating, and stealing with no regard for the consequences of her actions-until she hits rock bottom and is forced to face the truths behind her disease. Her intensive odyssey of self-discovery ultimately gives her the strength to reshape her self-image, embrace her sexuality, and break free of the malignant hold bulimia has on her life. The first book to give voice to the pervasive but often unaddressed problem of eating disorders in the dance industry,Something Spectacularis a gripping exposé of the insidious nature of eating-related diseases-and a profound account of one woman’s journey toward self-acceptance and recovery.
Something That May Shock and Discredit You
by Daniel M. Lavery&“One of our smartest, most inventive humor writers, Ortberg combines bathos and the devotional into a revelation.&” —Jordy Rosenberg, The New York Times Book Review From the New York Times bestselling author of Texts From Jane Eyre and Merry Spinster, writer of Slate&’s &“Dear Prudence&” column, and cofounder of The Toast comes a hilarious and stirring collection of essays and cultural observations spanning pop culture—from the endearingly popular to the staggeringly obscure.Daniel M. Lavery is known for blending genres, forms, and sources to develop fascinating new hybrids—from lyric rants to horror recipes to pornographic scripture. In his most personal work to date, he turns his attention to the essay, offering vigorous and laugh-out-loud funny accounts of both popular and highbrow culture while mixing in meditations on gender transition, family dynamics, and the many meanings of faith. From a thoughtful analysis of the beauty of William Shatner to a sinister reimagining of HGTV&’s House Hunters, and featuring figures as varied as Anne of Green Gables, Columbo, Nora Ephron, Apollo, and the cast of Mean Girls, Something That May Shock and Discredit You is a hilarious and emotionally exhilarating compendium that combines personal history with cultural history to make you see yourself and those around you entirely anew. It further establishes Lavery as one of the most innovative and engaging voices of his generation—and it may just change the way you think about Lord Byron forever.
Something Wonderful Right Away: The Birth of Second City—America's Greatest Comedy Theater
by Jeffrey SweetDiscover the behind-the-scenes story of how The Second City theater created a generation of world class great actors, directors, and writers. In the late Fifties and Sixties, iconoclastic young rebels in Chicago opened two tiny theaters—The Compass and The Second City—where they satirized politics, religion, and sex. Building scenes by improvising based on audience suggestions turned out to be a fine way to develop great actors, directors, and writers. Alumni went on to create such groundbreaking works as The Graduate, Groundhog Day, and Don&’t Look Up. Many of them also became stars on Saturday Night Live. Something Wonderful Right Away features the pioneers of the empire that transformed American comedy. This new edition tells even more of the story. Included for the first time is an interview with Viola Spolin, the genius who invented theater games that were the foundation of improvisational theater. Also included are dozens of follow-up stories about Mike Nichols, Barbara Harris, Del Close, Joan Rivers, Alan Arkin, and Gilda Radner, plus &“You Only Shoot the Ones You Love,&” the story of how this book&’s author, playwright Jeffrey Sweet, became so involved in the community he covered that he was captured by it.
Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution
by Todd S. PurdumA revelatory portrait of the creative partnership that transformed musical theater and provided the soundtrack to the American CenturyThey stand at the apex of the great age of songwriting, the creators of the classic Broadway musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music, whose songs have never lost their popularity or emotional power. Even before they joined forces, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had written dozens of Broadway shows, but together they pioneered a new art form: the serious musical play. Their songs and dance numbers served to advance the drama and reveal character, a sharp break from the past and the template on which all future musicals would be built.Though different in personality and often emotionally distant from each other, Rodgers and Hammerstein presented an unbroken front to the world and forged much more than a songwriting team; their partnership was also one of the most profitable and powerful entertainment businesses of their era. They were cultural powerhouses whose work came to define postwar America on stage, screen, television, and radio. But they also had their failures and flops, and more than once they feared they had lost their touch.Todd S. Purdum’s portrait of these two men, their creative process, and their groundbreaking innovations will captivate lovers of musical theater, lovers of the classic American songbook, and young lovers wherever they are. He shows that what Rodgers and Hammerstein wrought was truly something wonderful.
Something to Say
by Lily Prince Richard Klin"Klin is an insightful interviewer and a marvelous writer. We were delighted to have the opportunity to publish the interview with Howard Zinn from Something to Say."-The Bloomsbury ReviewThe fusion of art and politics is axiomatic in much of the world. In America, their relationship is erratic. What is art in the service of social justice? Is an artist obligated to address the political? This book profiles, in words and photos, disparate creative forces who offer thoughts on their point of engagement with the political sphere. In the words of Pete Seeger, art "may save the world. Visual arts, dancing, acting arts, cooking arts. . . . Joe DiMaggio reaching for a fly ball-that was great dancing!"Profiles in Something to Say:The late Howard ZinnPete SeegerYoko OnoScreenwriter Ron NyswanerPalestinian American standup comedian Maysoon ZayidPoet Quincy TroupeDominican American painter Freddy RodríguezFilmmaker Gini RetickerSlowpoke cartoonist Jen SorensenPerformance and installation artist Sheryl OringChildren's writer Jacqueline WoodsonChef and food activist Didi EmmonsChinese American poet and art critic John YauPunk-rock activist Franklin Stein of the band BlowbackKlezmer fiddler Alicia SvigalsRichard Klin's writing has appeared in the Brooklyn Rail, Forward, The Bloomsbury Review, Parabola, The Rambler, and other media.Lily Prince has exhibited in over fifty national and international exhibitions and has been awarded commissions by numerous hotels and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. She is an associate professor of art at William Paterson University. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Newark Star-Ledger, New American Paintings, San Francisco Weekly, and other media.
Sometime After Midnight
by L. Philips"Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist meets Cinderella in this thoroughly modern romance." —HelloGigglesLate one night in a dingy Los Angeles club, Nate and Cameron meet and discover they have much more in common than their love of an obscure indie band. But when Nate learns that Cameron is the heir to a soul-sucking record label—the very one that destroyed his father’s life—he runs away as fast as he can. The only evidence of their brief but intense connection is the blurry photo Cameron snaps of Nate’s Sharpied Chuck Taylors. When Cameron’s sister Tess—a famous model and socialite—posts the photo on Instagram for her legions of fans, the internet just about breaks with the news of this modern fairy tale. “Anyone know the owner of these shoes?” she writes. “My Prince Charming brother is looking for his Cinderfella!” But while the viral sensation begins to bring the pair back together, their own demons and pasts might get in the way of any happily ever afters . . .
Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Colors in Music
by Running Press Mike ByrneA whimsical color concept board book that shares a some fun pop music history while teaching children all the colors of the rainbow.Preschoolers learning to identify colors will love this whimsical book, while music-savvy parents will love the artistic representation of some of their favorite song titles, including Little RED Corvette, BLUE Suede Shoes, and PINK Moon, just to name a few.
Somewhere in Heaven
by Christopher Andersen"Dana is my life force." --Christopher Reeve"A terrible thing happened. I wish it hadn't. But would I change who I married? Never." --Dana ReeveHe was a hero in every sense of the word--the chiseled-from-granite star of four blockbuster Superman films and the romantic classic Somewhere in Time who, after being paralyzed in a freak horseback riding accident, became a symbol of hope for millions. Dana Reeve was no less heroic, standing steadfastly by her husband's side until his surprisingly sudden and unexpected death at age fifty-two. When Dana, a non-smoker, passed away from lung cancer just seventeen months after Chris's death, she left behind their thirteen-year-old son, Will, to be raised by friends and family. Dana was only forty-four years old.That fate could have dealt such a cruel hand to this golden couple seemed unfathomable. That they could endure it all with grace, courage, and humor defied belief.Yet for all the millions of words that have been written about their public causes and private struggles following Chris's accident, little is known about the lives they led as passionate young lovers. Now, in the manner of his poignant-yet-stirring bestsellers Jack and Jackie, Jackie After Jack, An Affair to Remember, The Day Diana Died, After Diana, and The Day John Died, No. l New York Times bestselling author Christopher Andersen draws on those who knew them best to examine in touching detail the Reeves' unique partnership and the romance, faith, and fortitude that defined it.Sometimes heartbreaking, often uplifting, always compelling, Somewhere in Heaven is more than just a portrait of a marriage. It is the profoundly human story of two souls whose brief lives made a difference, a bittersweet saga of tragedy, triumph, and loss, and--above all else--a love story for the ages.
Somewhere in the Night
by Nicholas ChristopherFilm noir is more than a cinematic genre. It is an essential aspect of American culture. Along with the cowboy of the Wild West, the denizen of the film noir city is at the very center of our mythological iconography. Described as the style of an anxious victor, film noir began during the post-war period, a strange time of hope and optimism mixed with fear and even paranoia. The shadow of this rich and powerful cinematic style can now be seen in virtually every artistic medium. The spectacular success of recent neo-film noirs is only the tip of an iceberg. In the dead-on, nocturnal jazz of Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, the chilled urban landscapes of Edward Hopper, and postwar literary fiction from Nelson Algren and William S. Burroughs to pulp masters like Horace McCoy, we find an unsettling recognition of the dark hollowness beneath the surface of the American Dream. Acclaimed novelist and poet Nicholas Christopher explores the cultural identity of film noir in a seamless, elegant, and enchanting work of literary prose. Examining virtually the entire catalogue of film noir, Christopher identifies the central motif as the urban labyrinth, a place infested with psychosis, anxiety, and existential dread in which the noir hero embarks on a dangerously illuminating quest. With acute sensitivity, he shows how technical devices such as lighting, voice over, and editing tempo are deployed to create the film noir world. Somewhere in the Night guides us through the architecture of this imaginary world, be it shot in New York or Los Angeles, relating its elements to the ancient cultural archetypes that prefigure it. Finally, Christopher builds an explanation of why film noir not only lives on but is currently enjoying a renaissance. Somewhere in the Night can be appreciated as a lucid introduction to a fundamental style of American culture, and also as a guide to film noir's heyday. Ultimately, though, as the work of a bold talent adeptly manipulating poetic cadence and metaphor, it is itself a superb aesthetic artifact.
Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins
by Amanda VaillThis is the first full-scale biography of what Time Magazine called a 'made-in-the-USA genius' Jerome Robbins (1918-98) helped change American theatre forever with his choreography for Leonard Bernstein's musical On the Town (the one about the three sailors during the course of twenty-four hours in New York City). On Broadway, Robbins virtually invented the concept musical in which music, action and dancing are woven into a seamless whole. His life reflects the creative format of the post-war years, intersecting with the likes of Arthur Miller, Irving Berlin, W. H. Auden, Leonard Bernstein and George Balachine. His work includes The King and I, Pajama Game, Fiddler on the Roof, Gypsy and, most famously, West Side Story. Robbins was part of other important 20th century narratives: the grim drama of the McCarthy blacklist; the emergence of gay culture; the epic of immigrant assimilation. A guarded and secretive man, Robbins had virtually no magazine profiles and no biography in his lifetime, but in 1998 Amanda Vaill was given unprecedented and unique access to Robbins' letters, diaries and meticulously kept journals. This has resulted in a detailed, densely populated narrative with a strong and charismatic central figure - a book that makes readers feel that they are experiencing an extraordinary time for themselves.
Son of "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night" (Book #2)
by Scott RiceMORE WRETCHED WRITING FROM THE CONTEST THAT PROVES "NOTHING IS SO POWERFUL AS A BAD IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME." <P><P> Scott Rice, organizer of the notorious-- and hilarious-- Bulwer-Lytton "bad" writing contest, has once again collected the best opening sentences of the worst novels never published. Here, penned by the literary vigilantes who prowl the subways of literature, is a sampling of winning entries: <P><P> "'I want something more in life,' Wesley fumed as the lime-scented Jacuzzi bubbles collected between his secretary's breasts." <P><P> "The November snow was thin and slushy-- almost as if the angels in Heaven were brushing their teeth and dribbling toothpaste over the earth." <P><P> "Fall had come to the city; the trees had turned to yellows and the winos had turned to reds." <P><P> As the Tallahassee Democrat said about It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: "This is a book to be enjoyed one stinky sentence at a time." The great literary tradition continues...
Son of Happy
by Cary FaganHow would you feel if your dad were a clown? The boy in this story never wants to go to his friends’ birthday parties, because Happy the Clown is always there. And Happy is … his dad. He wishes his dad had a regular job, like all the other kids’ parents. He didn’t mind his dad being a clown when he was a little kid, but now it’s just embarrassing. And even worse, since business is slow, his dad is putting a sign on the front lawn advertising his clown services! But one night at dinner Dad announces that he’s going back to his old job of being a lawyer. “You were a lawyer?” the boy asks, incredulous. Now his dad wears a suit and tie to work, the family can buy a new car, his mom can take piano lessons, and he can have a skateboard and cellphone. But something feels different. The boy wonders if his dad misses being a clown. Or is he the one who misses Happy? With bittersweet humor, Cary Fagan brings us a story about a boy’s growing consciousness and a father’s realization that he can be himself. Key Text Features speech bubbles Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).
Son of a Critch: A Childish Newfoundland Memoir
by Mark CritchA hilarious story of family, getting into trouble, and finding one's place in the worldWhat could be better than growing up in the 1980s? How about growing up in 1980s Newfoundland, which--as Mark Critch will tell you--was more like the 1960s. Take a trip to where it all began in this funny and warm look back on his formative years.Here we find a young Mark trick-or-treating at a used car lot, getting locked out of school on a fourth-floor window ledge, faking an asthma attack to avoid being arrested by military police, trying to buy beer from an untrustworthy cab driver, shocking his parents by appearing naked onstage--and much more. Best known as the "roving reporter" for CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Mark Critch has photo-bombed Justin Trudeau, interviewed Great Big Sea's Alan Doyle (while impersonating Alan Doyle), offered Pamela Anderson a million dollars to stop acting, and crashed White House briefings. But, as we see in this playful debut, he's been causing trouble his whole life.Son of a Critch captures the wonder and cluelessness of a kid trying to figure things out, but with the clever observations of an adult, and the combination is perfect.