The Looking Glass Wars – Arch Enemy
by Frank Beddor

This is going to be a bit of a stub review so as not to spoil anything for new readers.

Beddor has an interesting take on the Wonderland universe. Redd is Alyss’s Aunt, who attempted to usurp Alyss’s rightful place as Queen of all Wonderland. Alyss is currently Queen, and is of the Spades deck. But, she has a problem. The Clubs and Hearts decks are working against her, and not only that, but the powers of Imagination have been taken away by a unique weapon of war. Alyss’s Imagination is the source of her power, but fortunately she also has a good head on her shoulders and is able to think things through, ah, but isn’t that a part of imagination? To be able to find ways to solve a problem. Imagination is indeed slowly returning, but very slowly. In the mean time the Clubs decks are rounding up all the Imaginationists, painters, poets, etc, who are unable to create works of art due to the loss of the Power of Imagination.

The prologue starts with Alyss trying to find out if there are any clues on how to help Wonderland on Earth. In so doing she becomes stuck on Earth, unable to return to a Wonderland that requires her attention. That in itself is a symptom of something being very very wrong in Wonderland. This causes the reader to wonder, what made Alyss desperate enough to return to earth, and how is she going to get back to Wonderland before everything goes all to hell? The prologue essentially acts as a hook to make the reader interested in reading on. It worked.

There are also many World War 2 parallels, such as the rounding up of Imaginationists into relocation camps (not everyone has an imagination), propaganda speeches, hypocrisy, etc. There is also a clear distinction between the good guys and the bad guys, and I must say Redd is, of course, the ostentatious obnoxious kind. She is working with Arch the Head of the Clubs, who is better at being evil than she is. The Oracles, who are the caterpillars (which I found amusing), are giving prophecies to both sides of the conflict, declaring loyalty to an Everqueen, protecting her and the Heart Crystal. But no one has a clue who this Everqueen is. It is one more thing that Alyss has to deal with to try to figure out how to heal Wonderland.

Beddor has given the Alice in Wonderland story more breadth and depth. It helps to be familiar with the original Through the Looking Glass story, or to have seen or read some rendition of it (Movies, Disney, etc.), but not entirely necessary. In fact, there is enough information in this novel that I was able to understand and glean what had occurred in the previous novels without having read them (which I haven’t). Though, I’m sure I missed out on some subtlety. I like Dodge, the fellow in love with Alyss, and I like Hatter. Hatter is cool. I was amused to see a weapon’s diagram of the AD-52 (Automatic Dealer). The entire world is WEIRD. Of course! This is a Through the Looking Glass story. It’s Wonderland. Of COURSE it’s going to be weird! It’s in the nature of the beast.

The novel is classified as Young Adult Fiction, ages 12 and up. I have no arguments there. So, if you’re looking for something bizarre and interesting to read, this is it.

“Writing workshop is the best way to implement the writing process (Atwell, 1998; Fletcher & Portalupi, 2001). Students write on the topics that they choose themselves and assume ownership of their writing and learning. At the same time, the teacher’s role changes from being a provider of knowledge to serving as a facilitator and guide” (italics added, Tompkins, 2010, p 349).

The idea that students can choose for themselves what it is that they are writing needs to be true. I recall in seventh grade my teacher saying that we were each going to write a story about anything we wanted. We each had to tell her briefly what we were going to write about. I, being a fantasy fan, wanted to write about fairies and elves. She told me I couldn’t write it, because the story had to be based in reality. I was devastated. She had said anything. However, that is not what she meant. She meant anything within a certain context, and that context was our own world. I managed to get away with writing a story about a family taking a hike in the woods, coming upon some strange creature that could possessed people, and then everything seemed fine at the end but the younger brother had red eyes indicating possession. My teacher really liked the ending. Was it completely based in reality? No, but it was close enough that she allowed it, thank goodness. I don’t know what it is that teachers have against fantasy or science fiction stories. It requires the same amount of work, more so even to have the imaginary world make sense since you have to build the world and the people, customs, culture, from the ground up, along with consistency and continuity to avoid storyline pitfalls or loopholes.

It’s also a bit hypocritical. In elementary school many of the books that are read to students are anthropomorphic, which is not based in reality at all. Then there are books like the Magic Tree House series or the Adventures of the Bailey School Kids where things happen that are not possible. What? A tree house that can transport Jack and Annie back and forth through time using books as the medium? Impossible! But children love it! And teaches a bit of history at the same time. What? Strange unexplainable things happening at a school with genies and unicorns and such things? Impossible! But what fun to read! So, the message is, we can read fantastical stories but we can’t write them? Does that make sense? Just because a piece of writing is not based in reality does not mean it doesn’t have any value. I dare say, it even helps people talk about things that are very difficult to talk about since what’s happening in the story is not real, but we can still relate to it. No matter the genre being written the author still draws upon his or her knowledge and experience when writing.

Now, if an assignment is to write a persuasive piece or a journal then fantasy writing would not be appropriate, but with those pieces of writing the parameters are set. After you figure out the purpose of your writing, then the writing process is the same. Why should it matter if a child chooses to write a story that has elves traveling in spaceships instead of about humans traveling in airplanes? I believe that it is important to allow students the creative freedom to write any kind of story. I recently read a story by a first grader that was about a mom killing a baby, finding someone to help her kill everyone, then the two killed everyone but then they had no one else to kill so they killed each other. The illustrations were quite gory. One might think that this was a disturbed child but the child was exposed to horror movies by her older siblings and this was her way of working out what it was she was watching. Students need that freedom of expression and creativity.

I remember in high school art class that while we could pick the subject matter of our pieces, we always had to work within the medium provided, be it embossing, watercolor and ink, or tempura paints. At Yuba College, I took a Creative Arts Class that was geared towards preschool aged children. We had to work with the very tools that we were going to ask our preschoolers to use and do the activities we would ask them to do. Ramona Knight explained what was expected of us (lots of art projects with directions for a portfolio), and after talking for about 45 minutes she said, okay, get to work. I raised my hand and asked, what are we doing? She said, whatever you want. I was flabbergasted. What did she mean whatever I wanted? After establishing that she really meant whatever you want, I was in a state of shock. I did not know what to do. I literally spent the next hour and a half out of that three hour class doing nothing. Miss Ramona (we called everyone Miss so and so, it’s a preschool thing) after a while suggested that I look through the textbook to see if anything caught my eye. Time was ticking by, and I didn’t want to be left with nothing to show for my three hours of class. So, I picked blotto art, and I was really happy with the results. I still have it. Once I managed to get over the hurdle of really having a choice I was able to enjoy the class. It was. . . liberating.

I was so used to having someone tell me what I had to do, especially in an academic setting, that for a while I didn’t know how to do something completely on my own. There is something wrong with that. There are times when it’s good to teach specific techniques and how to use certain tools, but sometimes we need to have the choice to really do what whatever we want.

Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st Century. A Balanced Approach. 5th edition. Allyn & Bacon: Pearson Education.

I had on a dog collar, and a dog eared hat for my kid’s Halloween party at school. One kiddo, Alex, after confirming that I was a dog asked me, where are the little thingies that hang down were. So I asked him, you mean the dog tags that are heart shaped? He said, yes. I told him he was right, I need those, so I told him that I’d have to do that for next year. Now I have plans to get a dog tag that says Baby Ruth with my husband’s cell phone number on it, just in case I get lost.

Hazel’s teacher, a few of the parents, and Robert all found the suggestion quite humorous.

A year ago I posted this: No More Facebook For Me

My husband was adamantly against facebook and I decided it wasn’t worth the strife in our marriage and let it go.

Patience is a good thing.

I started getting friend requests from people that I hadn’t seen in years that I still cared about, and also from family that I never get a chance to talk to we’re all so busy. There were also fan pages at San Jose State University which get more frequently updated than the main website pages, like the career center page.

So, I approached Robert about facebook again, months later. He was annoyed, but said he’d think about it. I would wait a long time, and then ask if he’d given it any further thought. So, over time, and mentioning that I wouldn’t let facebook distract me from doing what I need to be doing.

Just yesterday I asked him about it again, and he said he was fine with it. We’ve basically made a pact. I get to use facebook as long as it doesn’t prevent me from doing what I need to be doing. If I ever start getting on facebook instead of doing what needs doing then no more facebook for me again.

I think it’s a fair trade.
And, it was worth the wait.

So, I’ve started letting Hazel, who is six years old and in first grade, type on the computer in Open Office. Her file is called surprises for me, since she’s basically writing to me, but it’s also got this journal quality to it.

I sat down at the computer to start doing homework and saw what she wrote. I laughed hard. My husband was like, what? So, of course, I had to have him read it because I just couldn’t read it to him. This is exactly what she wrote. Enjoy.

“I love my mom. She is good a lot. She helps me a lot.29+1=30 We like her. We do work together. My mom is nice. She is great. Mom goes to school! But she is at school all day long! BOO said the pumkin 30+1=31 We give hugs and kiss. I coler for her. Its omost Halloween! I love Halloween!! You are a good! 100+0=100 My mom loves me a lot! I help her a lot! I go to school just like my mom!! 1+100=101 I think dad and my mom is very cool. My mom and I have fun times but not a lot . My dad is lazy. He is a bump. Me and mom are not lazy.”

Note: My husband was laid off back in April. I think that’s where she’s getting her idea from. . . that, and sometimes he’s in a lazy mood and will say, I’m feeling lazy.