I'd like to recommend this graphic novel of sorts. It doesn't have any words, similar to The Snowman, but more fantastical like something by Chris Van Allsburg. I "read" it through myself tonight after picking it up at the Central library and then my daughter and I read through it together. It's fun asking her what she thinks a panel means and then discussing it. There was only one scene that was a bit mature for her when an older man is telling about a war in which many people die.

The plot is about immigrating to America, though from the dust jacket it sounds like it also originated from "immigrating to Australia" stories and all of the cities/scenes are clearly not American nor Australia nor anywhere else in the "real" world.

The art is wonderful, and the story is well crafted and well told. The little creatures in it feel vaguely Japanese. I'm thinking Studio Ghibli for some reason.

Good for adults, good for kids.

uacgames.com
Half Life 1 Anthology $10 and free shipping with google checkout

No, that's not distrubing. It's amusing if you've played the game. And, while I'm explainging things, let's do the title. As you're probably aware, my favorite deal-of-the-minute site is slickdeals.net. I say "probably aware" because it's probably also your favorite bargain shopping site.

Ah, and I didn't make the crowbar or take the picture. I just googled crowbar. Click the image to go to the original site.

I've been trolling around ebay and steam (curse them) for Half Life 1, after playing through all the available Half Life 2 material I could get my hands on and reading all kinds of wikipedia articles to get the story I missed not having played the original games.

The going price on ebay, steam, and everywhere else, seems to be $15 for the Anthology set, which contains Half-Life, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, and Team Fortress Classic. I just found a site that has it for $10 and free shipping with google checkout. I was all impressed, so I thought I'd share. They have some other older games as well.

Granted, they look a little quirky, but who are you buying from on ebay?. And, the google checkout is quick and painless. If anyone's interested, I'll let you know how it turns out.

On a related note, I'd also like to point out that after reading all those wikipedia articles I consider Half Life 2 to be a post-apocalyptic game (post alien invasion/occupation), and that may have something to do with my affinity for it and its story line.

[Update] Had to remove all the links when turning off comments. Post editor kept telling me the URL was invalid.

I sent Rob this info earlier because he was asking where to get cider and doughnuts. Now it's here for all! I should also have mentioned that Verhage's cider is unpasteurized, which makes it better, in my opinion. Travis is currently using some to make hard cider.

Verhage Fruit Farms

My commentary: Verhage makes their own cider and you can sample some right there. Sometimes you can watch them make the cider as well, which is also very cool. I mentioned Verhage's last year (fresh squeezed apples) . They have decent homemade doughnuts as well, though I've never been able to get iced doughnuts there. They're mostly the cinnamon/sugar variety, which are good, or the plain cake kind, which are not really my thing. It's possible that they make iced/frosted doughnuts there and they're just never available when I'm there. I don't know. They also have a giant jumpy pumpkin thing for the kids, hay rides sometimes, train rides (for kids), a gift shop, and a concession stand sort of thing that serves up concession stand sort of food.

They don't have a website as far as I can tell. This has some info:
http://www.michigan.org/travel/detail.asp?p=G5233

Address:
8619 W. Michigan Avenue
Kalamazoo, MI 49009
Phone: (269) 375-0153

Gull Meadow Farms

My commentary: Gull Meadows has the best doughnuts ever. Get the iced kind. They are best when they're fresh. They do not make their own cider as far as I can tell, but they sell some. You can do u-pick for insanely high prices and they have a very large entertainment complex for the kids (also at insanely high prices). It's bigger than Verhage's, if you care. They do Plainwell Ice Cream as well, and have a very large gift shop.

http://www.gullmeadowfarms.com/
http://www.gullmeadowfarms.com/directions.html

Address:
8544 Gull Road
Richland, MI
Phone: (269) 629-4214

I picked up this book while we were at the library for the summer reading program celebration thing. (Where the kids got digested by a huge dinosaur, by the way.) I also got a new (to us) Clarice Bean book by Lauren Child (of Charlie and Lola fame). Always good stuff.

Anyway, I highly recommend where i live. I suppose I wouldn't even be mentioning it here if I didn't. It's literature for children. Poetic prose, is what I'd call it, as it often blurs the line between poetry and prose. Personally, I think good prose dips into poetry just enough so that you can appreciate the craftsmanship w/o distraction from the story. The form this book takes lets the author elegantly do more than that, sharing short poems or poetic prose about Diana, the protagonist, whose father loses his job, requiring the family to move to her grandfather's house.

From the description on the dust jacket you'd think it'd be a sad sort of book about kids dealing with grownup issues, but it's very lighthearted as well. It's not a long book at all. Probably a 15-20 minute read if you savor it a bit. I think it's a bit over my kids' heads, but maybe good to read to a 5-6 year old. I enjoyed it myself, just because it's so well done.

Oh, almost forgot. The illustrations by Matt Phelan are just as much a part of the book as the story, and they complement each other well.

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