End of Reading Week

Hey everyone!

I’m taking a break from this week’s post because it’s the end of reading week, which means that I need to catch up on a lot of reading! I had an awesome time back home in Sudbury, but now it’s back to the books. A new letter will be posted here mid-week. In the meantime, check out the 365 petals page, because there’s a pretty cute new letter right now!

Have a great night!

Books to read… for Reading Week!

Ali and I are in the same city (for Reading Week). This caused two things. First, we ended up chatting until late in the night instead of writing a blog post yesterday (hence the Monday post). Second, we decided to write a different style of weekly post for this special occasion!

 

In honor of Reading Week we have decided to thank 43 authors of books we really enjoyed throughout the years (instead of letter #43).

Nous adorons lire et se perdre dans une bonne histoire.  Voici donc quelques uns de nos livres préférés!  Sentez-vous à l’aise de nous mentionner d’autres auteurs dans les commentaires si vous croyez que nous devrions découvrir quelqu’un d’autre!

By the way, these books are in no particular order, they’re just numbered so that we know we shared 43 authors with you.  Happy Reading Week et bonne lecture!

1. Thanks Stan and Jan Berenstain, for writing the Berenstain Bears book collection. My parents read so many of these books to me as a kid, and they’ll definitely be on my children’s bookshelves in the future.
2. Thanks Douglas Coupland, your unique writing style that incorporates your background as a visual artist in the way you present your writing, your outlook on the tech sector (eg. Microserfs, JPod), and your take on modern life is refreshing. Thanks!
3. Merci Eugène Ionesco, j’adore tes pièces de théâtre qui capture le ridicule et l’absurde de la vie quotidienne, de la logique et du langage pour pousser à la réflexion, faire rire et créer des inconforts.  La créativité de Rhinocéros pour aborder le thème de conformité fut quelque chose que j’ai très apprécié!
4. Thank you Sharon Stewart, for writing My Anastasia. I read that book a dozen of times over grade seven and eight, and not only did it get my very interested in Russian History, but it was so touching and made me cry every time.
5. Thank you Sarah Dessen, for writing a lot of books I love, but especially for writing The Truth About Forever. Love stories and happy endings have always been my favourites, and you wrote the happiest ending to the sweetest love story a girl could hope for.
6. Thanks J.K. Rowling, like the rest of the world, I also devoured each Harry Potter book (and was secretly hoping to get a letter to go to Hogwarts on my eleventh birthday).
7. Thanks William Easterly, your work is very well-written and approachable while still tackling important issues with depth.  The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done so Much Ill and So Little Good is one of those books that everyone should read.  Legit.
8. Thanks Gordon Korman, for writing my favourite book ever: I Want to Go Home. That book is one of the only ones that can make me laugh out loud, no matter how many times I’ve reread it.
9. Thanks Ann M. Martin, for writing the Baby-sitters Club series. It inspired me to be organized like Mary Anne, creative like Claudia, and to dot my I’s with hearts like Stacey.
10. Thanks George Orwell, as most would agree, 1984 was a genius book.  I found it truly beautiful and I especially enjoyed your thoughts on how language affects the way people think.  Thanks for making grade 12 English so much better.
11. Thanks CrimethInc., Days of War, Nights of Love is also one of the most important books that I have read during my teenage years and has pushed my views of the world.  It’s inspiring, beautiful, creative, and full of novel ideas.
12. Thanks Margaret Lawrence, for writing The Stone Angel. That book inspired some of my best English essays and projects!
13. Thank you Margaret Atwood, for writing The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake, books with stories that are horrifying, but just possible enough to be true. They sucked me in, and made me think.
14. Merci Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, tes livres se savoure comme de la poésie.  La prose de Terre des hommes m’a souvent fait penser et rêver.  Merci pour la beauté de tes écrits.
15. Thanks Randall D. Knight, Physics, for Scientists and Engineers Second Edition, a Strategic Approach has a long title. This all encompassing physics textbook, might seem to be boring due to the title but it’s actually a killer book written with a clear pedagogical approach.  It is impossible to spend time with this little gem without learning a great deal.
16. Thanks Dave Eggers, for writing A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. It was really different from what I’d ever read before, and I always feel really smart when you mentioned in pop culture references, because then I actually get them!
17. Thanks Ishmeal Beah, for writing the true account of your time as a boy soldier: A Long Way Gone. Your story is eye opening, but still written with hope.
18. Thank you Wilson Rawls, for writing Where the Red Fern Grows. It was by far the best book I was forced to read in elementary school.
19. Merci Martin Laporte, tes Pensées Du Jour, sont vraiment, vraiment, vraiment drôle.  Merci de m’avoir fait rire à plusieurs reprises!
20. Thanks Muhammad Yunnus, you have the brain to create intelligently, the heart to innovate meaningfully, and the guts to make it happen.  Thanks for creating Grameen bank, the micro-financing giant and for putting your story in Banker to the Poor.
21. Thanks K.A. Applegate, as a kid, I loved your Animorphs series.  I must have read at least fifty of them.  People that transform into animals to fight aliens, what a great idea!
22. Thanks Eric Dudley, it shows that you know what you are talking about in The Critical Villager.   Your take on development is honest and practical and will stay in my brain for a long time.
23. Thanks Judy Bloom for writing stories about growing up and being a girl. A lot of your books made me smile, and made me realize my mother was not always trying to ruin my life.
24. Thank you David Wroblewski for writing The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. One of the most captivating books I’ve read over the last year, I was simply smitten.
25. Thanks Marina Nemat, for writing Prisoner of Tehran. It’s a memoir that inspired a work of fiction that I later did, and it’s a book I reread from time to time, to gain some perspective.
26. Thanks Michael Crichton, you’re a prolific writer, and that’s great!  Your science-fiction stories are always based on solid scientific research and thought-provoking analysis, but are still incredibly entertaining.  I recommend State of Fear to everyone.
27. Thank you David Myers, for writing Psychology. It’s one of my favorite textbooks because the info is really cool, and the way you write is super accessible.
28. Merci Robert Dickson, merci pour ta poésie, ton travail dans la communauté franco-ontarienne et ta passion.  Humains paysages en temps de paix relative est un livre à lire, à relire et à lire encore une fois.
29. Thanks Robert J. Sawyer, thanks for incredible science-fiction books that also tackle social issues.   You’re a proud Canadian, and seeing your novels set in our cities is great (being from Sudbury, it was especially enjoyable to read the Neatherdal Parallax happening in my hometown).
30. Thanks Jared Diamond, when I read Guns, Germs, and Steel in my early teens, it helped redefine the way I saw the world.  Thanks for writing an accessible, holistic, thoughtful, and thought-provoking book.  This is definitely a must read!
31. Thank you Caroline Keene, for writing the Nancy Drew series. Even though some of them scared me enough to have to leap from my doorway onto my bed so that any murderers hiding under my bed wouldn’t see that I was in the room, it’s an awesome series with strong characters.
32. Thank you D. J. MacHale, for writing the Pendragon series. Each novel of the ten part story ended with a cliff-hanger, and came out every year or two, which gave me something to always look forward to.
33. Thanks Kurt Vonnegut, for writing Cat’s Cradle. The issues of religion, science, and technology were tackled in a beautifully written way.
34. Thanks Vic Bloom and John Goldwater, for creating the Archie Comics. An Archie comic was the very first “book” I ever read, after my mom brought it to me when I was sick.
35. Thanks Dan Brown, you’re a best-selling author for a reason, your books are great!  I’ve particularly enjoyed Deception Point, which showcases another side of your writing.
36. Thank you Laura Ingalls Wilder, for keeping amazing memoirs that were turned into an amazing series: Little House on the Prairies. I loved reading about life as a pioneer, and I can remember getting the entire series in a box set and thinking it was the best Christmas gift ever!
37. Merci Frederick D’Anterny, ta série Storine , c’est vraiment bon!  Grâce à toi j’ai pu voyager à travers la galaxie quand je n’avais même pas encore un permis de conduire…
38. Thanks Isabel Allende, for writing The House of the Spirits. That was one of the first “grown-up” books that really captivated me, and made me want to read more adult literature.
39. Thank you Kazuo Ishiguro, for writing Never Let Go. I finished the book on my way from Ottawa to Sudbury three days ago, it made my 10 hour bus ride much more enjoyable.
40. Thank you Lucy Maud Montgomery, for writing Anne of Green Gables and creating the character Anne. I wanted to be just like her, so I practiced spelling and started saying “bosom friend” all the time.
41. Thanks John LeCarré, Absolute Friends is one of the only books that I have read twice in my life.  The complexity of your stories and the depth of their contexts are incredible.
42. Thanks Ken Follet for writing Pillars of the Earth. It was a long enough book to keep me entertained for more than a week and I learned a lot that’s currently relevant to me Medieval History course.
43. Thanks Eoin Colfer, for writing the Artemis Fowl series. I’ve reread those books a dozen times, and always get excited for Artemis’s brilliant last move.

Phew! That’s it, merci et bonne semaine!

Quick Update: Sending a letter to Julian Assange

We’ve been getting a fair number of searches for “How to write a letter to Julian Assange” directed to our blog, since we wrote him a letter. Just to let you know, we sent the letter to: WikiLeaks (or any suitable name likely to avoid interception in your country) / BOX 4080 / Australia Post Office – University of Melbourne Branch / Victoria 3052 / Australia. This is the place where you can currently send cheques by mail to support the project, as written on the WikiLeaks website.

Letter #37: You!

Bonne année! Avez-vous des résolutions?

Nous on s’en ai donné une. C’était de restructurer le blog pour refléter nos récentes activités, soit des ateliers dans des écoles élémentaires à Ottawa et à Toronto. Un coup partie, et inspiré des ateliers, nous avons décidé de faire le saut et de vous écrire une lettre (avec un petit twist à la fin!).

You may have noticed a few changes on the blog today. We have new pages you can explore, as well as a few changes to our old pages. 365 petals is still being updated everyday, thanks again to the awesome students who help us out. The Leaves page is where you should go to learn all about our workshops, including how to get one in your school. The FAQ has some new questions, and the Stem page is to help you on your own letter writing endeavors! Why all this change? Because we made a New Year’s resolution to revamp the blog to reflect our latest Sending Petals adventures. Read through this week’s letter to see what else is new in 2011!

Certains changements à aller voir? Sous l’onglet 365 pétal(e)s, une lettre est ajoutée à chaque jour gracieuseté de nos complices et anciens participants des ateliers. En cliquant l’onglet Leaves, vous allez découvrir plus de détails au sujet des ateliers et vous pouvez aussi nous contacter pour avoir un atelier dans votre école et si vous allez vous aventurer sous l’onglet Stem, vous trouverez des trucs pour envoyer vos propres lettres.  Notre FAQ a aussi de nouvelles questions et si vous voulez d’autres réponses, n’hésitez pas à commenter et on va vous répondre avec plaisir! Sans plus tarder, voici la lettre de la semaine.

We’d like to send you all a copy of this letter, because we really do appreciate that you check back every week! Since it took twenty for Marc-André to write his in such neat penmanship we’ll only be sending this copy out. As a thanks, we’re also going to be sending a book of stamps and some other fun things to get you started writing your own letters. If you’d like to win this fabulous prize package, tell us in the comments what your New Year’s Resolution is! We’ll randomly pick a winning comment next Sunday!

Vu qu’Ali trouve la lettre très belle (ouip, c’est elle qui l’a décorée), nous avons décidé de l’envoyer à un de nos lecteurs pour le remercier! Pour gagner ce prix ainsi qu’un livret de timbres et d’autres fournitures d’écriture de lettre, vous avez simplement à partager avec nous, via un commentaire, qu’elle est votre résolution pour la nouvelle année! Nous allons sélectionner un gagnant par hasard… que le plus chanceux gagne! Merci de lire ce qu’on écrit, c’est vraiment un plaisir!

Happy New Year!!!

Joyeux Noël, merry Christmas!

Hey everyone, salut tout le monde!

Joyeux Noël and merry Christmas!

Wherever you are, have a very wonderful day. Profitez de votre journée de Noël et nous vous souhaitons la meilleure des journées!

The boy and the girl with lots of holidays hapiness!

P.S. For five wonderful Holiday tunes, go take a look at the 365 pétal(e)s page. Ça va vous faire danser, chanter et rendre votre visite heureuse, garantie!

Lettre #33: À deux classes incroyables!

Chers lectrices et lecteurs!

Je viens d’arriver d’Ottawa où j’ai passé la fin de semaine avec la chère demoiselle qui écrit aussi sur ce blog, et j’ai réalisé que mon imprimante n’avait plus d’encre!  Cependant, je voulais écrire une lettre aux deux classes de l’école Maison Montessori où j’ai eu la chance de donner un atelier mercredi passé (dans le cadre du projet 365 pétal(e)s), car les élèves étaient vraiment incroyables!

Due to my already mentioned lack of ink, I did the letters in a very high-tech and high-end product that I love: Microsoft Paint (haha).  My double letter is not nearly as pretty as the letters from the students that you should go admire here, but the message is honest: ces élèves étaient vraiment bons!

Alors merci beaucoup pour votre travail et j’ai hâte de continuer à montrer vos lettres, au rythme d’un nouveau pétale par jour, pour les prochaines semaines!  En passant, ma complice a aussi fait des ateliers alors vous aurez aussi la chance de voir de belles lettres d’Ottawa! Si vous voulez voir une version agrandie de la lettre, je vous suggère de double-cliquer dessus, merci!

Oh my crazy one thirty in the morning MS paint skillzzz....!

Bonne semaine, have a great week friends!

365 pétal(e)s – 1 pétal(e) = 364 pétal(e)s

Yup, you get the math, this means that the first letter of the 365 pétal(e)s project has been posted! You’ve also noticed the new tab on the blog? The one that says 365 pétal(e)s? Well click on it already because…

It’s pretty exciting. It’s fabulous. It’s so awesome that it’s worth a Monday post, a rare occurrence on Sending Petals!

We’re feeling crazy and ready for change so get ready for more fun events like this!

Un merci tout spéciale à la classe de 3e et 4e de l’école élémentaire Maison Montessori pour avoir écrit les premières lettres de ce projet!

Lettre #29: Chers élèves… and the launch of 365 pétal(e)s!

Chers lecteurs, joyeuse Halloween!

For this very special day, I have a special announcement to make.  Le projet 365 pétal(e)s est officiellement lancé!

Yup, that’s right, for the next 365 days the girl and I will write 365 letters with the help of friends that we meet in workshops that we offer in schools all over the province.  C’est pas mal excitant, non?

J’ai eu la chance de lancer le projet à Toronto à l’école élémentaire Maison Montessori avec des élèves fabuleux!   Pendant un matin vraiment spectulaire et pendant lequel je me suis beaucoup amusé, j’ai eu la chance de récolté 19 lettres écrites par des jeunes remplis de talent!  Pour les remercier, j’ai décidé de leur écrire une lettre pour ce dimanche!

Those French classes that you took in elementary serve you well!   Talking about elementary school… last Thursday I had the chance to give the first Sending Petals workshop at l’école élémentaire Montessori and I had a blast!  The kids wrote 19 beautiful letters and they will be featured under the tab 365 pétal(e)s starting on Monday!

So friends, get ready to see some changes on this blog as we transform things a bit for this exciting project!  If you are in Sudbury, Toronto, or Ottawa (or kind of anywhere in Ontario), just give us a shout at sendingpetals@gmail.com.  We’ll figure something out!

Préparez-vous à des changements sur le blog pour accommoder cette nouvelle phase… et au nouvel onglet 365 pétal(e)s pour voir les lettres de nos jeunes artistes dès lundi!   Si vous vous êtes à Sudbury, Toronto, Ottawa, ou même n’importe où en Ontario, envoyez-nous un courriel à sendingpetals@gmail.com et on peut s’organiser quelque chose!

Have a good one, have a great week, stay tuned et à bientôt!  Be sure to be back tomorrow for a wonderful letter and more details on this project!

Bonne semaine mes amis et à demain!

À la prochaine Sudbury (and more importantly a very cool art project that my sister is doing!)

I’m leaving Sudbury tomorrow bright and early to move to Toronto for the next four months to work for Environment Canada. Even though I’m excited to start work, start a Spanish course and for life “the big city life” like the girl did this summer* I will miss the few weeks I had in Sudbury and the time well spent with family and friends. Merci à tout le monde avec qui j’ai eu le privilège de passer du temps ou même de revoir un peu partout! C’est grâce à vous que j’aime temps cette ville minière…!

I will also miss a very interesting art projet that has been growing untamed around my laptop set up in the basement for my stay home. My sister has started a social art project. And it’s beautiful.

She has decided to invade a corner of the basement to create a very special kind of letters…

… birthday cards…

…more specifically 500 birthday cards!

She has decided to carefully create one birthday card for each person attending her high school. Her goal is to make sure that each person at school has one very wonderful day at school by giving the birthday person a card in front of fellow students. This way, everybody can be celebrated by others throughout the years.

Je suis sûr qu’elle va pouvoir donner beaucoup de sourire aux gens de son école. Merci Marie-Ève de faire de beaux projets intéressants et qui rendent les personnes heureuses! Je t’aime.

And… that is all for this week’s post. Now I’ll tidy up a few emails, pack my laptop and go to bed not too late to be up bright and early tomorrow morning to Toronto! I’ll be sure to test the internet connection at the new house where I’ll be living to post the letter of the week, be sure to check it out on Sunday!

You’re great!

Thanks for reading… and caring!

*Yup, you’re right, the girl was in Toronto this summer but now she’s back in Ottawa for school. We did miss each other by a four-month interval. Don’t laugh, I promise one day we’ll be in the same city for more than two weeks haha!