Underrated: Teen Wolf

There’s just something about Teen Wolf. It’s hard to explain to people who don’t watch, but there’s just something about this show that makes it special and, I’m not afraid to say it, my favorite show. It’s not perfect, the budget isn’t particularly high, and sometimes it makes me cringe (with love) but I get more excited about a new episode of Teen Wolf more than any other show. With the midseason finale of its third year coming up I thought it would be the perfect time to express my love for this beautiful show.

Here’s the premise:

Average Boy gets dragged out into the woods in the middle of the night by Quirky Best friend to find a dead body (very Stand By Me). Boy gets attacked and bitten by a werewolf (not very Stand By Me). Boy then falls in love with a pretty new girl at school who happens to be the daughter of a werewolf hunter (and is pretty good with a bow and arrow herself).

Sounds basic as fuck right? 

Yes.

Thats because I forgot the part where the rag-tag team of teens bands together, fights off the Big Bad Wolf with molotov cocktails cooked up by Secret Genius Popular Girl and light evil shit on fire. But that’s just season one.

Then season two and three come and rain down all sorts of havoc on these teens that you would never find on other teen fantasy shows. Freak lizard creatures, evil druids, demon wolves, and douchey chemistry teachers run amok in the fictional town of Beacon Hills, much to the delight of the audience. 

Teen Wolf started off as some little show on MTV loosely based on the 80s movie that most probably thought looked lame and unnecessary. But once people gave it a chance, they found a hidden gem of a show that really kicked ass. Now they have a group of super dedicated (and sometimes batshit crazy, I said it) fans that are well deserved. It went from being a guilty pleasure to a treasure. Here’s 14 reasons why:

1. The cast:
These guys and girls are just genuinely lovely people. There’s nothing nicer than knowing that the characters you love are played by actors who aren’t assholes. And they’re cute too!

2. Stiles (played Dylan O’brien):
This kid is a rising star. Considered to be the favorite character of most fans by far, O’brien has made Stiles one of the most compelling teen characters on TV. It's rare to find one character who is simultaneously the comic relief, heart and brain of the show. He’s funny, lovable and, most importantly, smart. Without Stiles, let’s face it, most of the main characters would probably be dead by now.

3. Derek Hale (played by Tyler Hoechlin):

'Nuff said.

4. The unexpectedness:
You will never see vampires on this show. Period. The TW writers are much more creative. They’ve given us new beasts and mythology, such as a Kanimas, Druids, and Banshees. And there’s much more to be explored. 

Like, as if you know what the fuck this even is.

5. The parents:
Unlike most teen shows the parents on TW are 1. Not idiots and 2. There. But also, they are some of the best written characters on the show. Surprising right? You have Melissa McCall, nurse and mother of our hero Scott (played by Tyler Posey) who can get pretty creative with a defibrillator. Then there’s Chris Argent, hunter and father of Scott’s love interest Allison, who absolutely insists on entering a room firing a gun in each hand, and his wife Victoria, who is the best kind of crazy.

Chris Argent, Melissa McCall, Sheriff Stilinski

6. The Sheriff (played by Lindon Ashby):
Stile’s dad gets his own section because he is a DILF and a BAMF. Sherif Stilinski may seemingly be the only cop in town, but he sure knows how to work that star-shaped badge. He and his son, Stiles have one of the best parent/child relationships on TV and their scenes together always resonate with the fans.


7. The freaky imagery:
Now let’s get one thing strait: Teen Wolf can get pretty gory. They love to pay homage to the horror and thriller genres, and that's when the show really shines. Needless to say, some freaky shit has gone down. I mean like, snakes coming out of eyes, bloody hands coming out of mouths types of shit. It’s beautiful.

not. cute.

8. The product placement (or, let’s drive to Macy’s in our brand new Toyota!):
A girl’s gotta make a living somehow and Teen Wolf is definitely is no exception. I feel for anybody who has lost a loved one playing a drinking game with the product placement on this show.

"I bought like eight pounds of Reese's."

9. The cheese factor:
It's not perfect, which makes it perfect. The CGI can be laughable and sometimes the acting is less than Oscar worthy. But, it's the campy moments that make Teen Wolf so lovable. Sidenote, where do you get your juice?


10. They are good to their fans:
Teen Wolf has always been great to their fans. They have a blog where series creator Jeff Davis answers fan questions, and for two seasons they’ve held walk on role contests that let one super fan join in on the fun. They’ve even let their first winner, Shantal Rhodes, appear three times and host an after show where she gets to interview the cast. How sweet is that? But it must also be said that their fans (who may be crazy sometimes) are good too. Most fans just write fanfiction and stare at Tumblr GIFs until they have blinding optical migraines, but a group of TW fans went the extra mile and started a charity to help wolves in captivity.

Walk on role winner Shantal Rhodes with Dylan and Tyler (Scott McCall)

11. The Coach (played by Orny Adams):
Where did they find this guy? Coach is the perfect blend of funny and insane (and may have a drug problem, let's be real). He loves to drill the Beacon Hills High Lacrosse team hard and keeps our teen wolves from getting fat. Because no one wants a fat teen wolf.

Hobbies include screaming and yelling.

12. Lydia (played by Holland Roden)
Lydia is the pretty girl at school who has a secret: she’s a motha' fuckin’ genius. It is her ability to make molotov cocktails that helps take down the bad guy in season 1. After a fateful night that ends in our fierce red-head running around the woods naked in a fugue state, Lydia begins to spiral into a world of crazy as the audience wonders what in the hell she really is. Her popularity begins to wane at school as strange events keep happening around her. But give her a break, it’s hard to be popular when you keep finding dead bodies...

A bombshell who can make bombs.

13. Allison (played by Crystal Reed):
Love her, hate her, or both, no one can deny that she can kick ass. She may seem like a sweet, meek girl in the beginning (and kind of a bitch towards the middle), but don’t be fooled. The girl’s got skills. Allison could hang with Legolas and Katniss any day. Crystal on the other hand seems like a total sweetheart.

Will cut you for fun.

14. Isaac (played by Daniel Sharman):
Isaac is the new kid on the block who decides to become a werewolf so he can stand up to his abusive asshole of a dad who locks him in freezers. You kinda just want to give him a hug. 

Also, refer to his face.

You can watch Teen Wolf Monday nights at 10pm on MTV or catch up with seasons 1 and 2 on Netflix.

Let's Dance

In honor of one of my all time favorite shows, So You Think You Can Dance, being back on, I thought I’d do a post about dance.

Dance is probably one of the things that inspires me the most. I danced as a child and all through high school. I was no pro or anything, but dance was definitely a big part of my youth. I am inspired by dancers and choreographers because they have the ability to blend artistry with physicality, often resulting in something beautiful and awe-inspiring. Dancers are also some of the most disciplined and passionate people that grace the earth. Often, when I am listening to music, I will start to see a dance manifest in my head. In time, these dances that I imagine will transform into other ideas or images that will then inspire me to create something completely different than what they started out as. 

I don’t really dance anymore. I have taken a few classes in college, but I did not enjoy them. So now I am at the point where I’ve pretty much given up all but watching and the occasional pirouette in the living room. Its kind of sad when I that type it out, but I always knew there would come a time when I didn’t really do it anymore. 

I’m a way better dancer in my imagination anyways.

I’ll leave you with a few videos of my favorite dancers (since I have a near encyclopedic knowledge of SYTYCD, I will pick just three. Feel free to get sucked into the Youtube vortex of dance videos on your own!):

Alex Wong is pure amazing and Billy Bell has one of the most unique styles. Some of the best SYTYCD contestants in my opinion.

Here is a routine choreographed by Tucker Barkley, one of the sickest dancers ever, basically. 

I first saw Megan Branch through a different Youtube video she uploaded, which I have since watched dozens of times. Plus, she's from AZ!

For added fun times, I will also leave you with Dizzee Rascal's "Dance Wiv Me," because it is the most amazing thing you can hear:

Unearthed Stories of the UO

Eugene Pioneer Cemetery

One thing that makes the University of Oregon unique is the fact that we have a cemetery right on our campus. I remember my first day trying to get back to my dorm from searching for my classes, only to wind up traipsing through a graveyard. Little did I know that I wasn’t completely lost and forsaken, but pretty much right across the street from my dorm. I don’t spend a ton of time in the cemetery, but for a group project I am currently working on, my team has decided to satisfy our curiosity about it. Through our research we have been learning a lot about the people there and the cemetery itself.

Some people might find it creepy and morbid to have a cemetery on campus, but I find it really interesting. Everyday we head to class we are walking past buried stories that are over 200 hundred years old. Many of the people buried there lived in Eugene when it was first founded and several had a hand in building the UO. There are even Civil War veterans there, which is crazy. In the past, the school has tried to condemn the property and build over the land, but all have failed. Now, the cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is basically untouchable because of its amazing history and deep connection to Eugene.

If you are a student at the UO, I would definitely recommend taking a walk through the cemetery at least once before you graduate, as it is a pretty amazing thing. But maybe do it in the daylight.

Photo by Branden Anderson, Ethos Magazine

Underrated: Bates Motel

Bates Motel stars Freddie Highmore (Norman) and Vera Farmiga (Norma)

For the past nine weeks I’ve been watching A&E’s Bates Motel. Tonight is the season finale and I’m super excited. When I first heard about this show, I wasn’t totally into it, as I’ve never seen Psycho, the Hitchcock film it’s based on. But I gave it a try and it turned out to be awesome. The show is pretty different than most of what is out there right now, which is quite refreshing. 

Basically the show is an updated origin story of Norman Bates, a.k.a the boy who puts the psycho in Psycho. In this modern day version he is a teenager and it is enthralling to watch him begin to spiral into what he is destined to become. In the first episode, Norman, and his controlling mother Norma move to White Pine Bay, where Norma has purchased an old motel. They soon find that they are not exactly welcome, and that the seemingly quaint town is full of dark secrets. Chaos ensues.

Mother/Son bonding to rival Lucille and Buster Bluth

What I am really loving about this show is its great cast and characters. Vera Farmiga is amazing at brining the crazy to her character and even manages to bring some humor to Norma’s incredibly bleak situation. Freddie Highmore plays his teenage version of Norman as an awkward kid who doesn’t really know what is going on inside of himself. He makes the viewer feel for him, even though his inevitable fate is always looming in the distance.

In celebration of the season finale tonight, here are my top 5 favorite things about Bates Motel:

1. Norma: As I mentioned before, Vera is really bringing it. Her Norma is the kind of woman who will beat you with her purse without hesitation. Yeah, she probably makes the worst decisions of any person ever, but she is quite entertaining.

2. Emma Decody (played by Olivia Cooke): Emma is Norman’s friend who has Cystic Fibrosis and is never seen without her oxygen tank and wide eyed curiosity. Needless to say she’s adorable as hell. She’s our little nancy drew and hopefully she makes it to season two in one piece.

Word of advice Emma: Don't fall for the quiet boys

3. Dylan (played by Max Thieriot): Norma’s older son and Norman’s half brother. Dylan and Norma don’t exactly get along. The tension between the two provides for some great scenes. Upon tracking his mother and brother down after they moved (neglecting to inform him), Dylan becomes entangled in the underground economy of White Pine Bay. Criminal undertakings aside, Dylan seems to be one of the few voices of reason in this crazy family, and does genuinely care about his brother’s well being.

The least crazy thing to come out of Norma's uterus

4. The Unexpected: Much of the show centered around Norman and Emma trying to uncover a mystery that involved Chinese sex slaves. I was definitely not expecting that when I first tuned in. Bates Motel definitely proved that it wasn’t a bland remake of the original. 

5. The Expected: Being based off of an Alfred Hitchcock film means that there are some things that are bound to happen. Obviously there is going to be tons of suspense and creepy characters. But Bates Motel manages to take the thriller genre staples viewers are expecting and make them fresh. 

Standard

6. The Blurred Reality: This might come as a shocker, but Norman’s not exactly in his right mind. Sometimes he sees things that didn’t exactly happen. But the audience doesn’t always know when he is imagining things or not. They do a great job of keeping viewers on their toes.

Did I mention Norman has taken up taxidermy?

Photos curtesy of A&E Television Networks

Modern Vampires of the City

I love music, but personally, I find that the task of listening to a new album can be quite daunting. I am a patient person, and can sit through pretty much anything. But for some reason, sitting and listening to ten to twelve songs I’ve never heard before is a challenge for me. It’s kind of like walking into a room filled with people I don’t know. I’m a bit apprehensive about getting to know anyone, so I just put it off. Or, in other cases, I fall in love with one or two songs and neglect the others, sometimes for months, until I can sum up the energy to listen to the rest of the album. And I admit, there are full albums in my iTunes library that I’ve never even listened to. 

But when the new Vampire Weekend album, Modern Vampires of the City came out earlier this week, I put all of my petty fears aside and just gave it a good listen. And then another, and another. 

I’ve been a fan of Vampire Weekend since the beginning. I immediately took to the super catchy A-Punk and their first and second albums have been in heavy rotation ever since. Now, oftentimes I really like an album from a band, but then when their next album comes out I sort of become unfaithful and don’t even bother to listen to it. But with VW it’s different. They haven’t disappointed me yet and hopefully never do. 

Their latest album is different from their last two, as it is darker and a bit more mature than their lively and heavily African influenced former sound. Yet, it’s still very much them in every way. One aspect that interested me was the lingering theme of death surrounding the entire album, which is beautifully felt in the bleak “Hudson,” and also in the 50s-style “Diane Young” (say it out loud). Lead singer Ezra Koenig still places his trademark vocals on every track, and I am eternally grateful that he ditched a career of being a teacher and having teenage girls develop unrequited crushes on him for a life of  music and having teenage girls develop (less creepy) unrequited crushes on him. And as always, Rostam Batmanglij’s creativity touches every corner of the album. And also shout out to bassist Chris Baio and drummer Chris Tomson, because I'd feel bad if I didn't. 

One thing that has always made me adore VW is their sense of humor, which is not something you can say about most bands. For their new album, they teamed up with Steve Buscemi (a very distant cousin of Chris Baio, no less) and released a series of hilarious online promo videos involving bowling and easter egg painting that led up to their Amex Unstaged concert. Needless to say, the results were beautiful. 

Sidenote, if you like Vampire Weekend, you should give Rostam’s side project, Discovery a try. 

The Relevance of Being Earnest

Last night I went to see the University of Oregon theater department’s performance of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. I had seen a couple of their performances before, and they are always great, but this one was by far my favorite. The play was absolutely hilarious and the audience loved it. It had a snappy pace and the actors’ comedic timing was always on point.

But what really makes this play amazing is Wilde’s dialogue. The fact that the one liners are still funny and relevant today is a testament to his skills as a writer, but also to his ability to analyze society. He managed to captured the ridiculousness of Victorian society’s obsession with social status in a way that still rings true in modern times. When I look at shows today like The Real Housewives of Insert City Here or Made in Chelsea, it is plain to see that even though society has made many advances, we are still quite similar to our Victorian counterparts.

I’ll leave you with a few of my favorite quotes from the night:

1. “Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live nor the smallest instinct about when to die.”

2. “To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” 

3. “Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can’t get into it do that.” 

4. “The suspense is terrible...I hope it will last!”

And just in time for mothers day:

5. “All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does, and that is his.”

The Place Beyond the Pines

Here’s one thing about me most people don’t understand:

I love to go to the movies by myself. 

Actually, I kind of prefer it. For some reason, people are trained to believe that only lonely people go to the movies by themselves. But that is not the case. I love seeing a movie solo because I can see whatever I want and don’t have to worry if my friends will like it or think its too long. I also get to focus 100% on the movie and don’t have to feel awkward about the fact that that we are probably not talking. Now, I’m not saying going to the movies with friends is bad, because let’s face it, sometimes you need someone else there to share the experience and provide commentary with, especially if there are many WTF’s to be had (looking at you, Spring Breakers). But, If you’ve never been to the movies alone, I suggest you try it. 

Over the weekend I headed out to the movies and saw The Place Beyond the Pines, directed by Derek Cianfrance and starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, and Eva Mendes. I’ve been reading a lot of mixed reviews on it, but I personally thought it was pretty amazing. If you can sit still for 140 minutes then I definitely suggest you see it. The plot is simple: 

Girl gets knocked up by sexy bad boy → Sexy bad boy finds out about kid/panics → Sexy bad boy plans to win over Girl and take care of his kid by robbing banks → cops catch up to him → does not go as planned

The movie explores the lives of two central characters: Goslings aforementioned sexy bad boy and the corrupt cop who catches him, played by Cooper. But what I found interesting is that at its core it is a movie about fathers and sons. Both of the men have sons they are trying to provide for and their brief interaction with each other affects their sons lives in monumental ways. The movie time jumps fifteen years to the present day, where we meet these two sons and get to witness these effects for ourselves. 

My favorite performance in this movie was from Dane Dehaan as the teenage version of Gosling’s son. I first saw Dehaan in last year’s Chronicle, which I also loved. When you watch him you just know that he’s going to be big. In Place he really captured the confusion and anger his character was going through. 

Future sexy bad boy

So, if you're looking for a thrilling and heartfelt crime drama, I'd definitely give Place a try. 

College Connections

I love making connections between things that wouldn’t normally seem to fit together. At school, I work as a professor’s assistant for a program called Freshman Interest Groups (FIG). Each FIG contains two academic courses, and one weekly class that ties it all together. This course is called “College Connections,” and it is a place for the freshman students to gather with their FIG professor and me to discuss college life and do activities. In this class we often encourage our students to make connections between their classes in order to gain a more well-rounded academic experience. This can be hard sometimes, as student’s don’t often see the point in taking courses that don’t relate directly to their major, and cannot see how political science relates to folklore, or how human physiology relates to journalism. But being able to make these connections is super important and allows you to expand the way you think about the world.

I am an advertising major and for some reason I decided to take a physics class for my last science credit. I have definitely been struggling with this class as I am not a “math and science person.” I often wonder why I even considered this class as I read endlessly about velocity and torques. I’m an ad student after all! Physics has nothing to do with advertising! Right?

Right?

While taking a break from studying to watch some TV, I came across this Adidas Boost ad. The ad depicts heavy, metal balls dropping onto three surfaces: a concrete floor, a mat of Adidas’ new material, and the competitor’s. As the ball collides with Adidas’ cushioning, it bounces up and down, while the other two balls just hit the floor. Now normally, this ad wouldn’t have gotten much of my attention, if any. Your shoes are great, whatever. But what struck me about it was that just a day before we were learning about collisions and bouncing. And then there physics was, infiltrating my advertising major world. Seriously, this ad could have been one of the examples from the textbook.

Connections! 

Here is the commercial so you can see for yourself:

Flipping and Falling

Today I came across two stunning commercials while surfing Adweek.com. 

The first is an ad for Land Rover, entitled “Roam Free Parkour.” It was created by Y&R New York and directed by Noam Murro. It depicts four parkour athletes running around the woods performing gravity defying tricks with amazing agility. Now, I’m not much of a car lover or an outdoorsy gal, but I adore anything dance, so this commercial had me pressing the repeat button many times. I love the way they didn’t show a car, and just let the athletes embody the wheels while they leapt to simple, peaceful music. It really manages to capture the spirit of the brand in a new and exciting way.

The second ad is for Coca-Cola. It was made by Fitzgerald + Co and directed by Aaron Ruell. It features a young girl and boy spending the day together at a carnival, drinking coke and just having good-old, 50s style fun. The ad is sweet and innocent without making me want to vomit, which is a rare combination. I love the way their world is all pastels and light and set to jaunty music. It really does make for a good cheer-up. Though it does make me wonder if this will all be shattered when they actually say something to each other...

Grizzly Bear

photo by Tom Himes

Now, I’m not one to easily choose favorites, especially when it comes to things like music, TV, and movies. Usually, when someone asks me what my favorite _______ is, I just smile and nod and pick something quick. But my ability to say one title of a movie or one band is not because I am a decisive person. It’s because I know better than to bore other people as I stammer and recall a twenty item list (if you really want to know you can find it here). But there is one thing I can say for sure is absolutely my favorite, and that is the band Grizzly Bear. 

Gosh, I love them. 

My love affair with Grizzly Bear began in a rather low key way. Truth is, I never intended to listen to them. Sure, I had heard their big hit, “Two Weeks”, but I kind of wrote them off as a slow, mellow band with one catchy hit. At the time, I typically listened to more upbeat music, and I wasn’t exactly a super hip music kid or anything. But one night I was on a trip to Seattle with my cousins and I had to share a room with one of their friends. Now, I am not a good sleeper. Any sliver of light or barely audible stirring will keep me up for hours. That being said, the person I had to share a room with was a very heavy snorer. And I loathe snoring more than anything. It makes my skin crawl and it keeps my awake to a point where I feel an anger I never thought possible. Now, after two years of living in college dorms, I know that earplugs are my best friend. But at the time I was woefully unprepared. All I had to block out the noise was my iPod. Now, my iPod is filled with Basement Jaxx and The Clash, not ideal music for trying to fall asleep. So after scrolling through my library a few times, I finally landed on the Grizzly Bear CD a friend had burned for me. “Perfect,” I thought, “This will put me to sleep in no time.”

After a while I fell asleep, and the CD continued to play on repeat the whole night. When I woke up I knew every damn song on that album. Now, I realize this doesn’t exactly sound like good advertising. I guess you could say I literally brainwashed myself into knowing their music. But after that one fateful night, something about their sounds just clicked with me. All through senior year of high school I studied pre-calculus exclusively to their album “Veckatimest” and when their latest album, “Shields” came out, I obsessively listened to every song on repeat for months.

The thing I love most about Grizzly Bear is that they are just real musicians. They know their craft and everything they make sounds beautiful. They’re not just trying to be trendy or clever, they’re just making amazing music. And once I really listened to it I realized their music is anything but boring; it is layered, detailed, captivating and adventurous. Listening to their music makes me picture vivid imagery and forces me to suppress the need to interpretive dance in public. Watching their music videos...well, they creep me out a little bit, but they’re super creative. What gets me every time is when they start out slow and meandering and then it all explodes into a fury of percussion. Another thing I love about them is that they have two lead singers, Ed Droste, and Daniel Rossen, who have some of the most unique voices I’ve ever heard and compliment and contrast each other wonderfully. 

Another thing I love about them is their lyrics. I admit, I’m not always the most analytical when it comes to music and I don’t always listen to songs for their meaning. But one thing Grizzly Bear has always done is made me care about what they were actually saying. I’m not saying I always know what they mean, but there’s something about them that just make me feel what is often referred to as human emotions.

Photo by Tom Spray

Now, I leave you with my top 5 favorite Grizzly Bear lyrics:

1. “If we're all faltering, 
     How'd I help with that?
     If it's all or nothing, 
     Then let me go.” 
      —Fine for Now

2. “Everything all at once”
     —What’s Wrong (I just chant this one to myself when the work starts to pile up)

3. “When I mention how I love you,
      It's all I do,
      Even as I stray.”
      —Half Gate

4. “By the look on your face
     The burden's on your back
     And the sun is in your eyes” 
     —Sun in Your Eyes

5. “Which of yourselves is truly gone?
      And checked out so long
      Unhinged, unwound
      Come help me on
      To let lie what's done
      In some great beyond
      You're still there, still as you were” 
      —Half Gate

Through a Lens

Ruts. I hate them. They make me feel so unproductive and uninspired. They drive me fucking nuts! They never lead to anything good. A style rut leads to my bank account disappearing. A creative rut leads watching Bravo all day. How does one break free of the soul crushing dullness of a rut?

Kaleidoscopes.

Yeah thats what I said.

Kaleidoscopes make you see the world in a different way. They turn things that we have gotten used to or bored with on their heads. They challenge us to not be boring. Yeah, maybe it’s you that’s boring. I said it. Kaleidoscopes challenge our notion of how things are meant to be.

And they have pretty colors.

Now, I’m not saying you should literally run out and by a toy kaleidoscope (although I do have a pretty kick ass one from the Jordan Schnitzer Museum that’s decorated to look like Starry Night or some shit). I’m saying we all need to find that thing in our lives that can take on the role of one. Maybe it’s your crazy friend that makes you take a second look at things. Or a professor who challenges you to rise above obligation. Or a musical guru who changes your definition of sound. Or an abstract feeling. Or the smell of colors. I don’t care just find it! Once you’ve found it, look through it. It will astound you. If it doesn’t, maybe you’re looking through the wrong end.

photo credit: Crystal Writer via photopin cc

E.L. Konigsburg

Keeping in the theme of beloved childhood literature, I just read that E.L. Konigsburg died yesterday at the age of 83. She was a terrific author and wrote some of my favorite books growing up. As soon as I was reading chapter books I was reading her work. Her characters were always so real and diverse, and her writing was filled with humor and emotion. Her stories were always captivating, whether they were about the most bizarre scenarios (like two children living in the Metropolitan Museum or pretending to be a witch) or the most mundane (summer camp, middle school). My favorite works of hers are definitely The View from Saturday, From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place. Thinking about these stories as I write this makes me remember the days when I was never without a book. Recently I’ve felt so run down by the whole “eduction system” that I never read for me anymore. But even just remembering these books makes me want to drop the textbooks and pick up something for fun again.

The Agelessness of Children's Books

For the past (almost) two years I have been working with an organization called SMART (Start Making a Reader Today). As a SMART volunteer I go to elementary schools in Eugene and read to children. It’s the perfect situation: I get to spend time with  adorable and smart little kids and then I get to leave before they get cranky. Working with children can be quite a blessing (when they’re not giving you colds). They say the most unintentionally funny things and approach everything in the most creative and unexpected ways. But what I find just as fun as spending time with the kids is re-reading the books I read as a kid too. It has really made me see how valuable a well-written children’s book is. As an adult, I can look at these books and really appreciate the art work, the clever tidbits, and the writing. The ones I find myself still excited to read are the ones that are timeless, quirky, and have a sense of humor an adult can appreciate too. Pretty pictures are also a plus.

Here are the three children’s books that continue to blow my mind into adulthood: 

Eloise (written by Kay Thompson, illustrated by Hilary Knight)- These books were my favorite as a child, and still are. They are funny, well-written, and stylishly illustrated. Eloise, though permanently six, in many ways is still someone I can look up to. She is self-confident, super creative and curious about everything and everyone (provided they’re not dull as dishwater). Her mantra is “getting bored is not allowed,” and she can create an adventure out of any situation. Also, New York City is her playground and she can charge anything to a seemingly bottomless credit card. Who wouldn’t want that?

Chester’s Way (written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes)- Re-reading this book made me realize why I am in love with Wes Anderson movies. The artwork is beautiful and the characters are quirky and witty, but also very relatable. And they’re also adorable mice! In this book we have Chester, who along with his best friend Winston do everything the same. Their lives are filled with endless days of playing croquet and thinking up matching halloween costumes. Until Lily moves into the neighborhood. Lily is, in one word, unique. They have never met anyone like her, and are initially intimidated by her eccentric brand of awesome. The moral of the story is one of the most useful I’ve ever read: the people who you might think are weird are often the ones that bring out something special in you. 

A Series of Unfortunate Events (written by Lemony Snicket and illustrated by Brett Helquist)- I was obsessed with these books well into middle school. They are so funny and weird and random. These are some of the most well-executed books and are just so creative. I always felt like they were in the shadow of Harry Potter, but they are so amazing in their own right. They are literally timeless, seamlessly blending styles of the Victorian age and the 20th century. Snicket bravely created a dark and twisted world where the endings were never happy and the characters were never safe. Yet, there was always something so magical about it all. It’s like a children’s intro to dark comedy.