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Something weird and wonderful. Keep reading… Having seen Marc Craste’s commercial work, Helen Ward set out to write the story of Varmints with him, “I like to think in pictures, so it is very important to me that I know and love the work of the illustrators for whom I write.” Helen tells a story [...]

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By Mark Peters

Some people and characters are forever associated with a word. I dare you to say refudiate, malaise, nanu-nanu, despicable, winning, and meep without thinking of Sarah Palin, Jimmy Carter, Mork, Daffy Duck, Charlie Sheen, and the Road Runner (or Beaker).

Without a doubt, the poster boy for varmint is Yosemite Sam, the rootin’-tootin’, razzin’-frazzin’ cowboy who was so often outwitted by Bugs Bunny in immortal Looney Tunes cartoons. Sam started popping up in the 1940’s, but the OED reveals that varmint (or varment) goes back much further, referring to “An animal of a noxious or objectionable kind” since the mid-1500’s. It’s a variation of vermin, which I was surprised to learn originally applied to reptiles, not rodents, back in the 1400’s. Like beauty, obscenity, and fugliness, vermin-hood and varmint-itude have always been in the eye of the beholder.

Though Mr. Sam never seemed like the reading type—his intellectual rigor rivaled that of a box of rocks—I wonder what his personal book of quotations would look like. I suspect Yosemite would make predictable revisions to suit his personal mission, like so:

“Hell is other varmints.” –Jean-Paul Sartre

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the varmints.” –William Shakespeare

“Some of us are becoming the varmints we wanted to marry.” –Gloria Steinem

“To use a varmint to show that a varmint is not a varmint is not as good as using a non-varmint to show that a varmint is not a varmint.” –Chuang-Tzu

“My eleven-year-old daughter mopes around the house all day waiting for her varmints to grow.” –Bill Cosby

“Never have varmints, only grandvarmints.” –Gore Vidal

“When I need a little free advice about varmints, I turn to country music.” –George H.W. Bush

“For just one night, let not be co-workers. Let’s be co-varmints.” –Ron Burgundy

“Every woman adores a varmint.” –Sylvia Plath

“Imagine there’s no varmints. It isn’t hard to do.” –John Lennon

“We fought a war on varmints, and varmints won.” –Ronald Reagan

“It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘varmint’ is.” –Bill Clinton

“I’m going to take my varmints to South Beach.” –LeBron James

“Omit needless varmints.” –William Strunk Jr.

Mark Peters is a lexicographer, humorist, rabid tweeter, language columnist for Visual Thesaurus, and the blogger behind The Rosa Parks of Blogs and The Pancake Proverbs.

If you are interested in subjects from these Bytes you might try these books or ask for recommendations from your librarian, teacher or bookseller:

Christmas Customs Around the World by Hector Wernecke
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Oliver Cromwell and His Warts by Alan McDonald

To Get the printable version of the Byte click here.

If you are interested in subjects from this Byte you might try these books or ask your librarian or bookseller for other suggestions:

Carnivorous Plants (Nature Watch) by  Rebecca L. Johnson
Savage Garden by Peter D’Amato
Skunk Cabbage, Sundew Plants and Strangler Figs: And 18 More of the Strangest Plants on Earth by Sally Kneidel

To Get the printable version of the Byte click here.

I'd been wanting to go to this launch SO badly. Tickets were incredibly limited (my Write Away ticket was revoked due to lack of room) and I really didn't think I'd get to go. But an hour and a half before the launch, Marc Craste got in touch and said I could take up one spare ticket, hooray! After my all-nighter, I did a quick switch from pyjamas to cocktail dress; now I'm back in pyjamas. I've only had about two hours sleep in two days, whew.

Here's my review for Write Away. I know its coordinator, Nikki Gamble, is off dining with the queen of Denmark at the moment (really!), so I'll get it up quick here.



Review:
What a triumph! At the Curzon Soho, Studio AKA proudly launched their showcase 24-minute animation, Varmints, adapted and directed by Marc Craste. The film started as a Templar book written by Helen Ward and illustrated by Craste, and follows Craste's 2004 Bafta winning film 'Jo Jo in the Stars'.

Just before the screening, Producer Sue Goffe talked about the challenges of producing such a long piece of animation when the studio typically deals with animations of about 60 seconds or less. Goffe said that the only way the studio could deal with a task of this size was to have a lot of extra projects going on at the same time to fund the work, and she thanked their clients for keeping them so busy. In his down-to-earth, slightly bumbling way that makes him so instantly likeable, Craste thanked her and the rest of the team of 36 people, including CGI Supervisor and Production Designer James Gaillard, Music composer Johann Johannsson and Sound Editor Adrian Rhodes.


Marc Craste and Helen Ward

The room was buzzing with excitement as guests filed into the cinema, and several Studio AKA team members commented in passing that they had deliberately avoided watching large chunks of the film, or certain parts of the film, so it would have more impact on them when seen as a whole.

Having seen a short clip of the film at the book launch in November of last year, this reviewer was prepared to be impressed. And the film was jaw-droppingly good. The animation team perfectly captured the magic of a sparkling meadow. With powerful compositions and dramatically limited colour palettes, the team have created a city that feels hugely menacing and and at the same time very stylish, with its cowed army of commuters, a concrete canyon which overtakes the little varmints' natural world. This reviewer had goosebumps from the dramatic visual compositions and colour palettes which gave the film such a magically charged atmosphere, almost a glimpse of something like heaven.

The main characters look remarkably vulnerable and cuddly, without seeming overly sentimental, and may find more wide-ranging appeal than those in 'Jo Jo in the Stars'. The musical score carries the film powerfully forward, with a thundering performance by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. After the film, a rep from Waterstone's Harrods laughed as she pointed out that as the credits began to roll, both of us simultaneously put our hands up to chests in amazement.

Templar publisher Amanda Wood mentioned how keen she was to get the animation taken up by television. Surely it's not 'if' it will be taken up, but how hard the different channels will have to fight to get it. No doubts, this film will be a classic.


Amanda Wood and illustrator Grahame Baker Smith
Note: As well as being an accomplished illustrator (who incidentally was a classmate of Dave McKean's), Grahame Baker Smith is getting into comics and is working hard on a graphic novel... keep an eye on this guy!

Many of the 7th grade girls I teach LOVE novels written in verse.  They devour anything by Sonya Sones, and then I usually steer them to Karen Hesse and others who seem to capture that same magic but in different ways.  Novels in verse, well written, pack a lot of punch with few words, and they usually offer lots of white space on the page, so they're fantastic for reluctant readers.  I haven't found too many that appeal to boys, though, which I why I was so happy to read these two standouts in the books nominated for the CYBILS.


G. Neri's CHESS RUMBLE is appealing to reluctant readers, especially boys, on a number of levels.  Neri nails the voice of a boy growing up in the inner city in a way that's reminiscent of Walter Dean Myers.  Neri's main character, Marcus, is a young man dealing with family troubles and fights at school, until he meets a powerful mentor and learns to fight his battles on a chessboard instead.  This novella in verse is full of language that's vivid and accessible, and Jesse Joshua Watson's illustrations in shades of black, brown, and gray help to set the mood.  This one has serious kid-appeal -- not just for the kids who already love to read but for those who don't often find books on the library shelves that seem to be written for them. This one is.






Katherine Applegate's HOME OF THE BRAVE is another novel in verse that will appeal to boys as well as girls.  It may help that plenty of middle grade readers already know Applegate from the ANIMORPHS series, but this book has a completely different feel to it.  HOME OF THE BRAVE is about Kek, a Sudanese immigrant who recently arrived in America after witnessing the death of his father and brother. He left his mother behind and wonders every day if she is alive.  The poems that explore Kek's emotional state are poignant and accessible to young readers, and the more traumatic scenes are set alongside lighter stories of Kek adapting to life in America and experiencing new things, from snow to washing machines.  This is a kid-friendly story (those who love animals will have an additional connection) that explores a dramatic issue in current events in a manner that is personal, sensitive, and hopeful.