Sunday Salon ~ a book headboard

DIY Book Headboard was an serendipitous online discovery, and I know I'll never do anything like it (for one thing, it takes up a lot of wall space).  But what a fun and creative idea!  Since I like pictures, as you can tell by looking at my blog, I'd have at least some illustrated pages showing in any headboard I tried to create.  Maybe I'd use a row of art books.  This bland whiteness would weary me — give me some color somewhere, please!  One of the comments following the article was along that same line:

"A kid's headboard perhaps with children’s illustrated books."

So do you think this whimsical headboard is a path to sweet dreams?

JUST PUBLISHED

Mary Wrightly, So Politely~ by Shirin Yim Bridges, 2013, children's, 8/10

Mary Wrightly is the best-behaved little girl around.  She always politely says please and thank you and even “I’m sorry” when something isn’t her fault.  But when a shopper comes between Mary and the blue elephant toy she wants to buy for her beloved baby brother, will Mary just let the woman walk away with it?  Speak up, Mary!  The charming illustrations capture the spirit of this gentle look at how asserting oneself is not rude — and is even occasionally out-and-out necessary.

Published April 16th, this book looks at the question of whether it's possible to be too good.  In the 1980s, I did assertiveness training at Chattanooga State and DeKalb Community College in Atlanta.  This book catches girls even earlier and and shows them it's okay to stand up for yourself.  It was hard for my college students to understand the difference between assertiveness and aggressiveness.  This book makes it clear, I think, that Mary and other girls are not being aggressive when they make their needs and wishes known.  In our culture, it's a compliment to say a boy (or man) is aggressive, but not so for girls and women.  Our little girls need books like this so they don't get lost in the shuffle, and boys need it to see a girl speaking up for herself.  I rate this very good book an 8 of 10.

NERD QUIRK

And you thought that was simply obsessive!  It's true, though, that I want my papers perfectly aligned before stapling them — or before using my hole punch.  It's so much easier to turn the pages in a notebook if they are lined up.  Is there another nerd among those of you who read my blog?

For nerds who like games, tell me, "What's wrong with this picture?"

SAD BOOK NOTE

E. L. Konigsburg died yesterday, Saturday, April 20.  Have you read any of her books?  My favorites by her are The View from Saturday (1996) and  From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967).  I met Konigsburg when she was in Chattanooga.  It's sad to realize she won't be writing any more books.

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