When I Grow Up

A scenic design model of Matilda The Musical by Tony-nominated designer Rob Howell.

Matilda The Musical tells the story of an extraordinary little girl who decides that her story is going to be an astonishing one, despite a bad beginning filled with rotten parents, a terrifying school and a vicious head mistress.

In Act Two, the children imagine what adulthood is like and sing “When I Grow Up.”

When I Grow Up

from Matilda the Musical

Music and Lyrics by Tim Minchin

Book by Dennis Kelly

Based on the book Matilda by Roald Dahl, with illustrations by Quentin Blake

When I grow up,

I will be tall enough to reach the branches

That I need to reach to climb the trees

You get to climb when you're grown up.

And when I grow up,

I will be smart enough to answer all

The questions that you need to know

The answers to before you're grown up.

And when I grow up,

I will eat sweets every day,

On the way to work, and I will

Go to bed late every night.

And I will wake up

When the sun comes up, and I

Will watch cartoons until my eyes go square,

And I won't care 'cause I'll be all grown up.

When I grow up (x 4)...

I will be strong enough to carry all

The heavy things you have to haul

Around with you when you're a grown up.

And

When I grow up (x 3)...

I will be brave enough to fight the creatures

That you have to fight beneath the bed

Each night to be a grown up.

And when I grow up,

I will have treats every day,

And I'll play with things that mum pretends

That mums don't think are fun.

And I will wake up

When the sun comes up and I

Will spend all day just lying in the sun.

And I won't burn 'cause I'll be all grown up.

When I grow up...

(Ms. Honey:)

When I grow up,

I will be brave enough to fight the creatures

That you have to fight beneath the bed

Each night to be a grown up.

When I grow up...

(Matilda:)

Just because you find that life's not fair, it

Doesn't mean that you just have to grin and bear it.

If you always take it on the chin and wear it, nothing will change.

Just because I find myself in this story,

It doesn't mean that everything is written for me.

If I think the ending is fixed already,

I might as well be saying I think that it's OK,

And that's not right!

— lyrics via themusicallyrics.com

Sing-A-Long with the “School Song”

As her classmates arrive with the usual nervousness of a child going to school for the first time, the older children do nothing to dispel their fears, instead warning them that even putting in effort there, is a waste of energy ("School Song").

Transferring Energy: The Journey of Matilda

The creators of Matilda talk about the show's origins at the Royal Shakespeare Company in London and the transfer of the show across the pond to Broadway — from Playbill, “The Journey of Matilda”

Noses Pressed against the Glass

Skye, Henry and Smudge at the Window

A nose is to be nosey with.

— from Ruth Krauss and Maurice Sendak's Open House for Butterflies

via Brain Pickings

Literary Lots

There's a great entry on the Library as Incubator blog, Literary Lots: The Library as Place Maker, about Literary Lots, a Kickstarter project that was funded to bring books to life in vacant lots in Cleveland. 

The idea of a Literary Lot is to bring children’s books to life by re-creating images, scenes, and ideas from those books in tangible, visible, and physical ways over a few weeks of summer.  While many urban neighborhoods are close to institutions (such as museums or non-profits) with programming, families in many of these neighborhoods may not have the means to attend.  Being geographically close to a cultural or institutional asset doesn’t mean that someone can access that asset.  One of the main goals for Literary Lots is to bring institutions together in a place they may have previously  dismissed as vacant or empty.  Literary Lots wants to transform once-empty spaces into new experiences for kids to see books in a way they never have before – by walking through them. We want people to bring their kids, participate in programs, play, or just sit and read all day in a place that’s there, in their neighborhood – someplace literally “out of a book.”

This concept of place-making and storytelling through books could be a great idea to explore in our art show, "A Slice of Life."

Stories are at the heart of Flo's reason for art-making.

For her show at the Luggage Store,  75: Flo Oy Wong . . .The Whole Pie, she has invited 75 local, regional and national artists to submit art pies.

All of these works created by Wong and the invited artists share a common thread. They are narratives which either address the deconstruction of a stereotype or tell the stories of under-represented men and women whose lives and hard work have made a significant yet unknown difference in this country. 

Gwah Gai: Crossing the Street, the performance that came out of her collaboration with Marcus Shelby and Rooftop School, captures and honors the childhood stories of her husband Ed, also known as Baby Jack.

Family is a major theme that Flo has explored through her 35 years of art-making. Our opportunity to hold an art show in the Luggage Store Gallery comes with Flo's induction into The Family of Rooftop, the incredible roster of hard-working creative people who have brought the arts to Rooftop's community over the past forty years.  

Coupled with the creation of Little Free Libraries and an invitation for the extended community photographic installation based on The Family of Man, the Literary Lot concept could be a really fun way to engage classrooms in the curation process.

Teachers, families & artists coming together to enjoy a big slice of the Rooftop Art Pie. 

Little Free Library

“A library doesn't need windows. A library is a window.” — Stewart Brand

Darryl shared these two images of a Little Free Library that he came across while walking down Nowita Street in Venice, CA.

The mission of Little Free Library:

To promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide.

To build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations. 

Website: http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/ltlfreelibrary/

Little Free Library Kit Assembly Instructions:

http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/amish-shed-kit-instructions.html

There are Little Free Libraries all over the world. In San Francisco, you can find a Little Free Library on the front steps of Kittredge School, 25th Ave. & Lake St., San Francisco, California 94121.

View Little Free Library Index > Scroll Down in a larger map

There are a lot of great window-themed children's books.

 

 

Link to abstract: Books are windows, books are mirrors: multicultural collections for children and young adults opening new worlds by Leoné Tiemensma, Library & Information Services Midrand Graduate Institute, South Africa

Books in a Box: Lutie Stearns and the Traveling Libraries of Wisconsin by Stuart Stotts

Books In a Box tells the story of Lutie Stearns, who established hundreds of traveling libraries in Wisconsin between 1895 and 1914. A founder and employee of the Wisconsin Free Library Commission, Lutie's mission of sharing books and opportunity brought her to North Woods lumber camps, to farming communities, and to industrial centers throughout the state. Despite a devastating stutter, she gave thousands of book talks and, later in her life, became a famous public speaker. Along the way, she met and worked with such historical luminaries as State Senator Joseph Stout, Zona Gale, Jane Addams, and Robert LaFollete. Lutie emerges as a passionate advocate for literacy, a Progressive political activist, a campaigner for women's rights, and an astute community organizer.

Books in a Box is a fictionalized biography, drawn from Lutie's correspondence, magazine articles, and other historical accounts. Turn of the century Wisconsin is the backdrop for her story, and period photographs illustrate both the character of the state at the time and the particulars of traveling libraries.