Becca’s World

Coyote Moon: a fable
Christina Rai Wheelwright, illustrated by Steven Clement

This children’s book is an amazing find, starting with its beautiful cover. Wheelwright spins an origin tale with wit and Castlegar resident Clement brings the words to captivating life with his paintings. The partnership is a great match.

Coyote Moon weaves its way through the story of a time when there was no moon in the sky. The style is reminiscent of First Nations tales most Canadian kids have heard, but there is no boredom in sight. As animals are asked to take the moon’s place in the sky, their traits reveal in an amusing way whether they are the right choice for the job.

Turning the pages to get to the next picture adds enjoyment, and the acrylic paintings used for the book are the perfect medium to blend myth and magic to complement the fable. Adults may want to add this one to their personal libraries simply for the art.

Ask for this book in Kootenay bookstores or email the writer and artist (crai@shaw.ca and clemson@shaw.ca).

I’m talking about Mansfield Park, redone for the UK’s ITV station. I enjoyed Billie Piper in “Doctor Who,” so I’m probably more hopeful than most Janeites that she won’t bungle the part of Fanny Price.

No offense, Jane, but Fanny and Edmund aren’t my favourite pairing from your novels, so maybe that’s why I’m not really worried – we’ll see how I feel after my first viewing. Maybe I will get mad if it’s not done well; after all, I didn’t like the last MP production.

Also not that hard to redo, in my opinion, is Northanger Abbey. The only thing I’ve seen to compare any remake with is an awful ’80′s version that I watch when I want to laugh at bad filmmaking. Sorry, whoever you are that made it, but it really is that bad.

The big one for me is Persuasion. I love (times infinity) the 1995 movie with Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root. She is Anne to me, so it’ll be tough to match that. Then again, I was afraid I wouldn’t enjoy “Pride & Prejudice” with Keira Knightley because of my strong attachment to the Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle performances…

Will report back. In fact, I bet I’ll be so excited one way or another that even if you don’t care about Jane’s novels, you will definitely hear from me.

I can’t stop playing Noah’s Ark from PopCap Games. I’m on level 246, with over 10 million points – didn’t get that all on my own, though, because Brad and I have been sharing the game. I feel compelled to see what comes at the next rank – we moved all the way up from Stable Boy to Beastmaster, and then came Noah’s Son, Noah’s Wife and now Noah. Will the top rank be God?

Curiosity killed the cat…

Update: Unstuck now. Got to 12 million points.

I seem to have an uncanny ability to wake up really early and not fall asleep again. Hence this post at an hour when most are still dreaming. Maybe I have too much on the brain?

The newspaper received its first submission for the book review column yesterday (unsolicited as I have yet to contact anyone locally), and that has been sent to the editor for approval. Hopefully it’s long enough – I tend to write shorter reviews when I like a book! I was quite excited that local talent is involved because I think that would be our best way to make the column matter to our readers. And I know from my own writing experience that it’s nice to get a little recognition near home – I loved having my name in print with the article I wrote about National Heart Month.

That’s about all I can think to chat about at this time, so that’s probably a sign I should try for more sleep. Have a good day, everyone, and don’t forget that much of the US and Canada will change our clocks ahead this Sunday (or Saturday evening if you want to get a jump on it). I welcome the early change because it already feels like spring here!

Well, Grey’s Anatomy is a rerun this week, so it’s just Survivor from the regular lineup of shows. I might also watch the last Deal or No Deal Canada.

I used to be really annoyed with reruns in the middle of the TV season, but now I try to approach it differently. I reason that without that hour to watch, I can get something else done – catch up on a different show, read or socialise online, watch a movie, take care of housework, etc. Guess it’s a case of the old saying about lemons and lemonade…