Friday, May 9, 2014

Fun Times at the Star Wars West Coast Tour!

Author Jason Fry with the Star Wars Cosplayers (Photo Credit: Carlsbad City Library)


Our local libraries have been a really great source of fun and entertainment for my kids lately, having after school events about the Titanic, Shakespeare, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

But today's event takes the cake.

The Star Wars West Coast Tour came to one of our library locations in Carlsbad this afternoon, and it was so much fun for kids of all ages (and adults too... there were MANY adults fanning over the Storm Troopers and the Tuscan Raider !)

We started off by getting our Galactic Passports, and from there there were all kinds of fun stations with activities to complete for stickers.

There was the Yoda Soda station, with old Ewoks cartoons that I remember from Saturday mornings when I was, like, 4 years old.

Sippin' Yoda Soda, watching some classic '80's Ewoks cartoons.


Then there were Lego X-Wing Fighter building contests, and coloring and activity pages galore. And adorable Yoda origami!

Outside, in the beautiful children's garden area, they had a "Feed Jabba the Hut" beanbag game, with more stickers and prizes.

Feeding Jabba


The whole time there were cosplayers walking around taking pictures with the kids (And the fun, geeky adults that tried to play it off that they were there just for their kids...). They were fantastic, and great with the kids.


Posing with some Mandalorian Mercs...

Storm Trooper love...


We also got to meet author Jason Fry, who has written the Lego Visual Dictionary books, as well as other Star Wars reference books, and also a few novels for young readers (Including the non-Star Wars related The Jupiter Pirates: Hunt for the Hydra, which looks kind of really awesome, like a Steampunk pirate adventure. It's been added to my to-read list, even if it is aimed at the 8-12 year old crowd.)

Meeting author Jason Fry, and getting our new book signed.


It was a really great afternoon for both my 4 year old son and 8 year old daughter.

And I'll admit, I was kind of fangirling myself... those costumes were really cool!

I know I for one am looking forward to the summer reading program at our library, with events like these, as well as prizes for reading books, all summer long.

You should check your local library for fun events such as this one (which are always FREE at our libraries! Yay free fun!), or summer reading programs. And if they don't already offer these kinds of things, suggest that they do, or even volunteer to lead one about something you or your kids are interested in. It's a great after school activity opportunity, where kids (and maybe even parents) have fun while learning something new.





Monday, May 5, 2014

Book Review: Me Talk Pretty One Day



Me Talk Pretty One Day  by Davis Sedaris

This collection of short stories and essays by David Sedaris, is, for the most part, hilarious. He's one of those authors that seems to remember every part of  his life perfectly, and can convey it to the reader with so much humor, that you think "How did all this happen to this poor guy?!" My favorite of his stories in this book are the ones about his sister, actress and author Amy Sedaris, wanting a fat suit, and not being able to afford the whole thing, and the one where his father wants all of his kids to play instruments and form a family band, like "The Partridge Family". As an added bonus, this book makes one of the best audio books, because the author reads it himself.

I give this one a B+.

If you liked this book, I suggest Naked, also by David Sedaris. You also might want to check out some of his readings on YouTube.