Katy's Camera- Photo Dump- Late July/Early August

Smiley Katy!

Baby Doll, Anya

Cecilia at the girls' slumber party.

Princess Celestia (MLP, of course!)

Baby Doll, Maggie

Princess Mommy

Mommy, Dad, Katy (written and spelled by Lil' Miss ;-)

Blogging for Books- The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan

The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan

The Panopticon, by Jenni Fagan, follows the life of 15 year old Anais Hendricks. Repeat offender and chronic foster-home child, Anais has had a hard life, to say the least. The book opens with Anais going to the Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders. At the Panopticon, Anais forms a family of sorts, with the other equally rough, mired prisoners. In the end Anais learns that she can only rely on herself.

Random House, the publisher for The Panopticon, describes the book as; 

"Anais Hendricks, fifteen, is in the back of a police car. She is headed for the Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders. She can't remember what’s happened, but across town a policewoman lies in a coma and Anais is covered in blood. Raised in foster care from birth and moved through twenty-three placements before she even turned seven, Anais has been let down by just about every adult she has ever met. Now a counterculture outlaw, she knows that she can only rely on herself. And yet despite the parade of horrors visited upon her early life, she greets the world with the witty, fierce insight of a survivor. 

Anais finds a sense of belonging among the residents of the Panopticon—they form intense bonds, and she soon becomes part of an ad-hoc family. Together, they struggle against the adults that keep them confined. But when she looks up at the watchtower that looms over the residents, Anais realizes her fate: She is an anonymous part of an experiment, and she always was. Now it seems that the experiment is closing in."

The Panopticon, by Jenni Fagan is a confusing, hard to follow read. Right off the bat, the American reader is at a disadvantage because of all the English slang used in the book. "Nae," "cannae," "tae," "doesnae," etc. are just some of the words that can trip up the American reader. First, though, I should mention that the word, "Panopticon" can be defined as, "a circular prison with cells arranged around a central well, from which prisoners could at all times be observed." That should be understood before one starts to read the book. 

After trudging through at least a quarter of the book, the main character, Anais, has still not move past her first night at Panopticon. Every paragraph seems jilted and out of sorts with the ones following and preceding. It's almost as if a million little thoughts were put together in one book and none of them are in order. Soo, soo, soo confusing for the reader to follow!

Characters are introduced at random and character development is lacking. While the reader feels bad for all of the unspeakable and alluded-to horrors that have happened in Anais' young life, it is hard to feel sorry for her when much is left unexplained and the reader is left wondering and confused.

This is author Jenni Fagan's first novel.

***Disclaimer- "I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review."***

Sentence of the Day- Plugged In Generation

We were at BJs, today, and getting ready to check out. While I was scanning the lanes to see which one was shortest, Katy asked, "Mom, can we use the selfie line?"

Hahahahaha! That one made me chuckle!

Wordless Wednesday- "Under the Umbrella Tree..."

Sentence of the Day- Too Tight

Yesterday was the first day of Katy's new swim class. She was pulling on her one-piece bathing suit and it was getting all twisted and tangled. Exasperated, Katy exclaimed, "This bathing suit is too taut! That means it's too tight!"

Sentence of the Day- Talking Behind Her Back

Last night, we had put Katy to bed and then went about our own evening routine. Ted and I were in our room, catching each other up on our days. I was telling Ted things Katy had said and done throughout the day. Nothing of note- just typical family stuff.

Then, I heard Katy call for me from her room. I went in to check on her. Our conversation went something like this:

Katy, "Mommy!"
Me, "Yes, Katy- what do you need?"
Katy, "I heard you and Daddy talking. What were you talking about?"
Me, "Just stuff. I was talking to Daddy about you- telling him about our day."
Katy, "Mommy! It's inconsiderate to talk about me (behind my back)...!"

Ha!

Disney Store Summer Play Days

 Have you heard of the Disney Store's Summer Play Days? It's a fun, free activity hosted by your local Disney Store, during the summer months. Storytime, Art of Animation, Showtime, Trivia and more!

Quite by accident, we happened upon our first introductory Summer Play Day- the Art of Animation- one Sunday afternoon. The day's task- draw Mickey Mouse!

A future animator at Disney or Pixar?! ;-P

After Katy completed drawing Mickey, she received a lanyard and a pin (each time they come back, they get a new pin). She also received a paper frame to showcase her artwork. Needless to say, Lil' Miss had lots of fun! (and we had lots of fun watching her follow the directions to draw Mickey)

Since then, we've returned several times to our local Disney Store- mostly for Storytime. Katy loves the interactive, Disney-based stories, best. What a neat, fun, free summer activity for the Preschool set!