the story cafe

There is an amazing ancient cafe in Seoul, Korea, called Insadong Stories. You can have tea/coffee and write a story, or draw a picture, which is then pinned to the wall. We added a Simply Read picture (which you can see above). Most of stories concern matters of the heart. Most are happy, but some have a melancholic tinge to them such as:
"I came here Friday to Insadong Stories and he passed me his mind and heart. I passed him mine. Maybe next time..."
I wish there were more cafes like this.

beautiful, yet sad

It's so interesting to see (and have someone translate) books from other cultures. This is a beautiful one from Korea, with gorgeous illustrations. The story is very sad. It takes place in 1940, during the war, and a little boy is waiting at a bus stop, for his mom to return home from work. He waits and waits and waits, but she never comes.





The book ends there. Who knows what happened to his mom. To add sadness to sadness, the book is called 'I'm Waiting for My Mom'. Do picture books for young children need to have happy endings? Hopeful endings? What do you think?



On a happier note: it's always fun to see the production quality of translated North American classics, such as Arnold's 'Mouse Soup'. It's a sturdy hardcover with thick paper. Nice.

mr m book launch

Book Launch Wednesday February 24th, 5pm – 8pm
Jacana Contemporary Art Gallery, 2435 Granville St, Vancouver, BC.

Jacana Contemporary Gallery is pleased to announce the publication of Mr. M: The Exploring Dreamer, an illustrated book showcasing the paintings of Vancouver artist Soizick Meister.

Based on the work of her pieces for the 2007 and 2008 exhibitions at Jacana Gallery, Mr. M: The Exploring Dreamer consists of twenty-four pages of Meister’s paintings.

We invite you to join us and Soizick Meister for a reception, celebrating the launch of her book on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 from 5-8pm at Jacana Gallery located at 2435 Granville Street (and Broadway).

pegasus

Cute! Cute! We've been reading a lot of mythology lately -- Norse myths, Greek myths, Russian myths. And then I came across this shirt from Threadless. It's a great on-line company where you can submit designs and sayings. Perfect for those who like to play with words.

Collage Collage

If you're in Vancouver (and we certainly do have a LOT of people here for the Olympics!) check out our artist/author Lisa Cinar's art show at Collage Collage, a lovely store/art studio for kids, this Thursday.
DATE: Thursday Feb 18th
TIME: 7-9pm
LOCATION: Collage Collage 621 Kingsway

heart-shaped fried eggs

With Valentine's day a week away... I realized that Paulina P. (for Petersen) by Lisa Cinar is a great book to inspire heart-shaped activities, since Paulina's best friend, Penny, loves hearts more than anything else!

So here are some cute valentine's day things Penny would love to do, on Valentine's day or just any other day, really. I think I'll be doing them all myself too!

Penny's Perfect Day:

1) Make heart-shaped fried eggs for breakfast (thanks to free people blog for the idea)



2) Spend the day decorating the city with heart-shaped cut outs--- just cut hearts out of pink tape and stick them in fun places (thanks to color me kate for the idea)!







3) Then snuggle up and read Paulina P. (for Petersen)!

monster

Can't wait to check this out! Monster is the new exhibition at the West Vancouver Museum. It goes from Feb 4th to May 8th and features all these amazing artists:
Shuvinai Ashoona
Shary Boyle
Lutz Braun
Beau Dick
Marcel Dzama
Alexandra Flood
Sandra Meigs
Nick Sikkauark
Corin Sworn
Joseph Tisiga
Howie Tsui
Nicola Tyson

letter writing club

The first Thursday of every month, at 7 pm, The Regional Assembly of Text in Vancouver has a letter writing club! You can use their old typewriters and cute stationary to write a letter or make a card.