cn te nT SOREL! Oo . Bey ae ete oy, : “E | T ime for Books — _ by Andrea Deakin. Nicola. Bayley delights the eye with her - fine use of color and her delicate percep- tion. Jewel-like miniatures enriched One’ Old Oxford Ox and her collection of . Nursery Rhymes. Wit, almost tangible il- - lustrations, and rich color enlivened William. Mayne’s Patchwork Cat. _Groundwood have just published a _ paperback of her Copycat series. — In each of these charming little books, Ms. Bayley shows a cat taking on a dif- to avoid the elephants’ bathtime, the parrot cat prefers to avoid.a snake, each cat can return-to itself. - .- When threatened, but in'the interim they imagine theniselves as ’. some other animal. It is gentle joke a child may share with an’ ’ ‘adult, while at the same time recognizing their own: love of im- aginative play. -Smail links for young eyes to find j join the everyday to the ex- ‘otic. The Siamese “Elephant Cat?” explores am elephant bookend; a-dish with Muffet-and the spider sets the. tabby dreaming about on: spider-like life; the snow and the polar bear on his mistress’ a sweater ‘set the black cat imagining. Miniature-like illustrations, — " intricately detailed and almost tangible, glow with color and in- | _ vention. The white cat gazing at the brilliant parrots in the jungle is followed by Puss diligently painting her own white fur. At the end of. “Elephant Cat’’, the Siamese is tucked up against. the elephant. bookend, surrounded by i images of India. _ The Copycat series are published i in paperback by « Groundwood at $2. 95 each, oe ‘Higgledy-piggledy, Take a look, At this lovely picture book:”” So it says on the cover of Charlotte ‘Voake’s latest book for little .. children. It is a higgledy-piggledy collection of all the things we first share with babies. There is an alphabet carried by romping -children, some numbers, a selection of animals, colors and . shapes, all interspersed with simple little rhymes. This is a book to share with very small children. Open it at any page and there is a complete concept to share. It is an ideal ‘‘one page and off to sleep” book, and it has all been illustrated by Charlotte Voake . in her gentle, light-hearted manner, a delight. First Things First is published by Groundwood Books at $12 95. a bee Soe my ‘Stories of small animals,. humanized and living in-the country- _ side, is very much a part of nursery tradition. Most famous are Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit and Allison Uttley’s Little Grey Rabbit, and each have had their own tradition and value. There have been many imitators, but the judgement must be based on. - their value and the individuality of each series. The most effective -, _ and felicitous of recent times is the work of Jill Barklem. She has. " created a whole world in her hedgerows, inhabited by Edwardian. _ field mice — the Brambley Hedge books. _ The value of Brambley Hedge i is twofold. The stories have a: an old-fashioned, other-worldly air, but they show valuable and un- . .changing values of caring, respect for others, the ability to live in - harmony, They also emphasize a highly respectable and modern -virtue-concern for the environment. ‘The stories are simple but ef- fective: the illustrations are outstanding. Apart from the high _. quality of execution, the illustrations are packed with carefully - researched detail of the life of these little animals. They live off . the environment. To quote Jill Barklem, ‘On a practical level, . their clothes, food, housing and utensils are provided by the Hedge or the surrounding countryside. The dairy, the flour mill, the looms are fully functional, and run on water power or are paw operat A new edition, very handsomely produced and presented, celebrates the eighth anniversary of the first Brambley Hedge book. The first four stories, “Spring Story’', ‘Summer Story’’, ‘Autumn Story’? and “Winter Story’’ have been collected together and prefaced by an interview with Jill Barklem which in- - cludes preliminary sketches of her work, In this edition, the delightful illustrations have been enlarged, making the detail . easier to enjoy. It is a book to appeal to adult collectors as well. as the fortunate children who receive it, The Four Seasons of oo Brambley Hedge is published by Collins at $29.95. school district tallies _ cost of negotiations ferent role,:The ‘Elephant Cat”’ prefers - - School District 88 paid about $158, 600 over the past year in ” bargaining, arbitration and me- diation costs, board secretary- treasutet Barry Piersdorff said recently, Most of that was spent in arriving at a new contract with the Terrace District Teachers Association: $108,000 in negoti- ating fees, most of which went to Campney Murphy, the board's: Vancouver law firm who supplied negotiator May Saunders, and $8,000 to media- tor Vince Ready. The negotiations with the Canadian Union of Public Employees took four days and cost the board $5,600. - _ The remaining $37,000 went into the cost of. arbitration in- yolviig one of. the district employees, he said. ; Terrace Review : _ set by local director Daniel Barnswell was awarded a Certificate of Merit for Most. Promising New Director at the Provincial Drama Festival in - Kelowna at the end of May with his interpretation and direction of Curse. of the Staving Class written by Sam Shepard. - by Sylvia Golke Originally from Terrace, “Barriswelll has returned to his ‘ ’ home town after an absence of — 14 years. People might remem- ber him from his performance in - The Decline and Fall of Lucifer © in last year's Skeena Zone - Drama Festival, where he won the award for Best Actor and for his appearance in Mothers and Fathers in March of 1988. ' According to Barnswell, life is painful. Drama is a reflection of society, a way to measure our pain, He prefers tragedy to com- - _edy because tragedy holds the real content of drama. There are only two solutions to every trag- edy: the protaganist refuses to change, bend or yield to the cir- cumstances and’ consequently either he is destroyed or his world is. destroyed. ‘Black com- edy i is similar to tragedy, in that it is increasingly funny until sud- denly the audience can’t laugh anymore. The urge for creative expres- gion is spiritual. It reflects our struggles in life and our attempts -at understanding the higher meaning. As the subtitle of Curse states, “‘nobody looks the way tliey are.’”? Drama attempts to explain the experience below the surface, to unearth what is really happening. beyond the ap- parent. People in Terrace can relate to this. People everywhere can, Sam Shepard operates on two levels, the apparent and the mys- . tical. He concentrates on family relationships. In Barnswell’s estimation, Sam Shepard will stand the test of time. He will be. . Temembered as a commentator | of our society. He is a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright. When . Barnswell. was ap- proached by Terrace Little - Theatre to do a play for the Skeena Zone Drama Festival, he wanted to choose a play with _ substance. ‘The executive. was at first reluctant. Is there.an au- dience for this type of material? - How. would a Terrace audience react to.a Sam Shepard play? With the support of Merry Haill- © sor, the play was passed by the executive. They later realized, from the response to the show, | that there is definitely an au-— dience in Terrace for serious drama. The play was scheduled for six shows. They held it over for three. more plus a perfor- mance in Kitimat. | ’ Curse was a demanding show. Barnswell has nothing but praise for the professional level of . committment and performance by the cast and crew: ‘“‘This has been an excellent learning ex- perience. We all stretched our capabilities, and grew as a result. “T wanted this play to bea 10, We strove for a 10 all the way. I treated this play heavy-handed- DANIEL BARNSWELL: Wanted to draw the best that was possible from the people performing. . ly. Curse is’ not to be treated lightly. It’s heavy stuff. I asked a lot from amateur actors. We held informal acting workshops - every Sunday, besides doing the rehearsals. I wanted to draw the best that was possible from the people performing. Many of them did not want to go to the place they had to go to “‘be” in ' the characters. It was not a hap- py. place. to. be. ‘People resisted, : but ultimately, an actor has to draw from his own experiences and emotions and enter into the character. “Once we were performing and the show was ih progress, . people didn’t want to quit. There is an incredible energy . that builds up in this kind of production. And then it is-over. . It is common to have a let-down and depression once the show. is - over. -I tried to help my actors - with that and prepare them for it. Drama is an ephemeral medi- -. um, We watch, we participate, "we experience, and then it is gone.”” - Curse won Best Production for the Skeena Zone as well as This naw contender from JONSERED with its stronger _tid-section con really _ toke o beating. The Super 670 packs o powerlul punch. ge AJonsered Super 670 Takes on the Heavyweights! | Best Technical (David Battison, Tonee Sabine) and Best Suppor-- ting Actress (Connie Silveira). . Curse has been a success for Barnswell. After seeing the play at the. Provincial Drama Festi- val, communities have ap- proached him to do plays for them, Barnswell always enjoyed — theatre and knew. he wanted to .be a part of it. He left home at an early. age, traveled for two years through 25 states and six countries,’ gaining the kind of universal experience necessary for someone. in: nthe performing arts. His focus was to be a director. But he proceeded i in’a methodic- al way, going through every pro- cess, knowing in this way he. ‘would become the hest possible director. He started with stage work, lighting, building sets and then to three years of concen- trated actor training. From there he went to further studies at Simon Fraser University, His aspiration is to be one of the top directors in Canada within the next 10 years. It’s Cool... it's Fost... it's Tough Will out cut anything In its class Wednésday, June 28, 1989 ° vee “High goals ¢ and standards ~ a7) se sonsered rrotine A CUT ABOVE THE REST SEE THE JONSERED SUPER 676 AT YOUR DEALER RIVER INDUSTRIES (TERRACE) LTD. P.O. BOX 638 — TERRACE, 8.C. V8G 485 5130A HIGHWAY 16-\WEST 635-7583 .