Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a meme hosted by Kathy at Bermudaonion.net. Visit her site to learn more interesting words!
Time Magazine calls Where’d You Go Bernadette “a cracklingly smart family dramedy.” Smart indeed! I’ve had to look up several words! Take halcyon, for example. Here’s an excerpt, in which Bernadette’s annoying neighbor writes to her friend:
Oh, Soo-Lin, just writing this transports me to the halcyon days when we were happily collecting outrages about Bernadette! What simple times those were.
I had no Latin roots up my sleeve to help me with this one. But I bet my dad, the bird watcher, might know it.
A kingfisher
halcyon \’hal-sē-ən\ from the Latin halcyon
Noun: – a bird identified with the kingfisher and held in ancient legend to nest at sea about the time of the winter solstice and to calm the waves during incubation
(And for those of you who don’t know what a kingfisher is, that’s a type of brightly colored bird that has a long, thin bill and that catches fish by diving into the water.)
Word Nerd Workout
Use halcyon in a sentence to describe a happy, peaceful, or prosperous time. My example:
The sound of waves crashing will always remind me of our halcyon days in Maui.
When I first heard about the rise in popularity of e-readers, I worried that the digital book revolution would isolate those without access to technology. Anyone can check out a book from the library, but only those with e-readers can read an e-book. Would e-readers create yet another barrier to literacy for the poor and the marginalized?
Turns out that, thanks to the efforts of ex-Amazon executive David Risher, e-readers can actually increase literacy!
I love a feel-good news story, don’t you?
Introducing Worldreader
David Risher is using his expertise from Amazon to give books to the poorest people in the world. He has established Worldreader, a non-profit organization that strives to defeat illiteracy in places like Africa by using digital book technology. According to an NPR story, Risher got the idea when he was volunteering at an orphanage in Ecuador and discovered a locked building filled with books. He was told that the building was the library. The books had taken so long to ship, the children didn’t have interest in them anymore.
Risher wanted to encourage a culture of reading in poor countries, and he decided that e-readers would be the best way to do that. E-readers use little power, are portable, and captivate the interest of children everywhere. Also, publishers can deliver e-books much faster than printed books. As of November 2013, Worldreader has delivered over 700,000 e-books to about 12,000 children in nine African countries.
How Word Nerds Can Help
Doesn’t this child deserve a book?
Of course, Worldreader needs sponsors to support its work. I did some research at Worldreader.org, thinking that maybe this could be a charity for word nerds to champion.
Worldreader tackles illiteracy by delivering e-reader kits to classrooms, libraries, or individuals.
One e-reader kit includes:
50 e-readers, each loaded with 100 books by African and International authors
hardware such as covers, charging cables, ID labels
tech support
management tools like training kits, launch planning guide, student rewards, etc.
The cost for one kit varies from $7500- $15,000, depending on the device model used. I know- that’s a lot of money. But don’t get discouraged! There are plenty of ways to support Worldreader, even if you don’t have thousands of dollars. Here are some ideas:
Buy a case for your own e-reader through A Case for Good; for every case purchased, an e-book will be delivered to a needy child
Donate what you can to Worldreader; their site welcomes gifts from $30-$600
Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, an awesome way to improve your vocab. Visit Kathy at Bermudaonion.net for more cool words.
Where’d You Go Bernadette, by Maria Semple, is giving me lots of words to look up. I’ve taken to writing them down in pencil on the back cover of the book. (I know, anathema to book purists, like my husband.)
Here’s the quote from the novel:
Fox’s preoccupation with the prosaic caught the attention of Professor Michael Graves, who hired her to work in his New York office.
Prosaic sounded like a word I should know. But what could “prose” have to do with architecture?
prosaic \prō-‘za-ik\ adj from Latin prosa, prose; characteristic of prose as distinguished from poetry; dull, unimaginative; OR everyday, ordinary.
I think Semple meant the last definition; Bernadette focused on the everyday/ordinary details of architectural design.
Word Nerd Workout
Complete the analogy! We haven’t had one in a while. I’m using the opportunity to review a previous word nerd word:
I’m always looking for ways to get my family thinking. I’m hoping it will help me deter dementia as well as help my kids to mature into intelligent, thoughtful adults.
I have lots working against me, like video games, You Tube, and friends who chuckle at our copy of 1100 Words You Need to Know.
Oh yes, and then there are standardized tests. Do you have these in your state? Here in Virginia, we have the SOLs. (Standards of Learning). Groan. The key word to describe these tests: regurgitation. Unfortunately, critical thinking, problem solving, and application skills do not always get the attention in school that this word nerd thinks they deserve. Enter: extra activities from mom!
Browsing the post-holiday sales at Barnes and Noble, I found a lovely little tool for daily brain training in our house: The Mensa Puzzle Calendar. One puzzle for every day of the year. The topic/ subject/ style of the puzzle changes daily. Sometimes they are math based. (My husband loves these and likes to see if he can finish them before the rest of us. Usually, he does.) Some puzzles are word based. (Guess who likes these?) Some require critical thinking/ spatial reasoning. But they always give us a challenge.
I’m afraid to give an example of a puzzle here, for fear of violating copyright. But trust me, everyone in my household enjoys seeing the daily puzzle and pondering it over Cheerios and bananas at the breakfast table. We tease and prod each other into completing each challenge. The puzzles inspire fun, pride, and conversation.
Oh, yes, and brain stimulation!
I save all the old puzzles in a binder clip (the page for each day rips off the calendar), and I plan to bring them along on the next road trip. That way, when the dreaded “B” word is uttered, I’ll have a stimulating response.
Speaking of the “B” word (bored), here’s a great quote from my current read, Where’d You Go,Bernadette, by Maria Semple:
The sooner you learn that it’s ON YOU to make life interesting, the better off you’ll be.
Word Nerd Note: for the financially conscious, I found the puzzle at 50% off since 2014 has already started! Hopefully, you can too! Hurry up and get one!
How do you train your brain? What games or puzzles to you use to keep the cerebrum firing?
Thanks for sharing, and go learn something new today!
Time to learn something new with Wondrous Words Wednesday. All die-hard word nerds should visit Kathy’s blog for links to more intriguing words.
Earlier this month, the winter blues pulled me down. Fresh from my trip to Maui, I felt the chill of the Polar Vortex with painful sensitivity. I didn’t want to read something cold or dark (so, The Book Thief will have to wait… til spring.) I wanted fun!
Thank goodness I picked up Where’d You Go, Bernadette at Barnes and Noble. A book club buddy recommended it, and one night, at 10pm, when I couldn’t go to sleep, I flipped it open.
I was chuckling by the third page.
Find it on Goodreads
Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple, is an amusing story about falling apart and pulling together. Bernadette Fox is a brilliant, but phobic, architect turned stay at home mom, and life in suburban Seattle might just push her over the edge. I haven’t finished yet (because I have four children) but I love the epistolary format, quirky characters, and witty humor. And I sense that underneath the humor, Semple has some meaningful points to make.
My word comes from a letter that Elgin Branch writes to a psychiatrist about his wife, Bernadette:
We were both from the East Coast and had gone to prep school. Bernadette was a rising star. I was taken by her beauty, gregariousness, and insouciant charm.
insouciant \in-sü-sē-ənt\ adj; from French in- + soucier to trouble or disturb; lighthearted, relaxed, calm
I had never seen this word and couldn’t guess at its meaning. Thanks for the help, Websters!
Word Nerd Workout
What would be a good antonym for insouciant? Imagine yourself late to an important appointment and stuck behind an accident on a busy thoroughfare with lots of traffic lights. And you just spilled soda on your lap. Go!
Thanks for playing!
Julia
PS: Don’t forget to enter Anna Silver’s giveaway; she’s raffling off a copy of her YA dystopian/sci fi novel Otherborn. Visit her guest post to enter.
Please welcome Anna Silver, author of the YA novel Otherborn and my guest today. She’s working hard this week, talking to readers about Otherborn and its soon to be released sequel, Astral Tide. Since I’ve been inundated with dystopian lately, I asked her to share what sets her novel apart. Take it away, Anna!
I love anything fantastical. When I read, I want to go some place else, somewhere I could never go except in a book. So, when it comes to book genres, my favorites are easily fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, and dystopian. Otherborn was my third novel, but the first dystopian and the first to be published. It came after a middle-grade high fantasy and a YA urban fantasy. I think I was ready for something darker, something gritty and disturbing on some levels. But I hate to play by the rules. Far be it from me to color within the lines or write within one genre. And so, Otherborn, dystopian at heart, ended up with a soft sci-fi edge, and some have even argued a fantasy flavor.
Find Otherborn on Goodreads
My work may be hard to pin down, but I think that’s what makes Otherborn unique as a dystopian novel. When you pick it up and read it, you’re not just getting another dystopian novel— you’re getting an amalgam of science fiction themes, fantasy settings, and dystopian plot twists that is a true genre-bender. My characters aren’t limited to a seedy, urban underground pressed under the thumb of a corrupt government. They also visit an ethereal astral realm where the lines between dreams and reality are so blurred that it’s possible to actually leave one world and visit another.
In fact, you won’t even be limited to one set of characters! London, Rye, and the rest of the Otherborn spend the waking day as human teens in a desperate race to save themselves and their friend, but by night, they become someone, something, wholly different. And it is this experience of bridging both worlds at once, both souls at once, that backlights the entire plot of the novel.
Dystopians have been hot for a while. Especially in YA fiction. And there are a fair number of truly great selections out there for those who enjoy the darker, edgier side of fantasy. But like any genre that gets this popular, after a while, the flavors can begin to blend together. One novel may feel a little too much like another and it’s harder to be surprised as a reader. I wanted to do something entirely different with Otherborn, something that would feel fresh to dystopian readers. Something that would surpass their expectations and keep them turning the pages. I believe I’ve done just that. I’ve gotten so much wonderful feedback on Otherborn, which I’m grateful for. One thing I hear again and again is that Otherborn is not like anything else they’ve read.
If you like dystopian, YA, science fiction, or even fantasy, then there is something for you in this novel. And for those who have been hooked by London and her friends, the adventure is soon to continue in the sequel, Astral Tide, releasing late February! Enjoy!
Anna Silver is an author and artist living in the greater Houston area with her family, pets, and overactive imagination. She studied English Writing & Rhetoric at St. Edward’s University. She’s freelanced for private clients and small publications like the Hill Country Current. Otherborn, her first published novel, has been featured on 2 of Amazon’s “Bestsellers” lists. She is represented by Rebecca Podos and Nicole LaBombard of Rees Literary Agency.
Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a meme hosted by Kathy at Bermudaonion.net. Visit her site to learn more interesting words!
