Totally Texas -- Summer -- going, going, go!

Can there only be one more week of summer? The start of school August 27 leaves only one more week of fun. But with school clothes and supplies, even on sales tax-free weekend, how can we afford fun? Some suggestions, listed from the not very expensive to the absolutely, totally free!

Dallas Arboretum -- Okay, it’s not totally free, but the Arboretum, 8525 Garland Road in Dallas, has slashed daytime prices to $5 a person through August 31. The Chihuly glass sculptures are beautiful day or night. And with temperatures for the coming week forecast to stay only in the 90’s (practically a cold front for Texans), it’s a good time to get out during the day. Check the website, www.dallasarboretum.org/,for details.

Trinity Audubon Center -- Take a tour of the sleek, eco-friendly building and its indoor, interactive exhibits at 6500 Great Trinity Forest Way (formerly 6500 S. Loop 12) just outside Dallas, for $1 per person through August 31. Then go outside for a variety of hiking options and a play area. Wear sturdy shoes! See http://trinityaudubon.org/.

Interurban Railway Museum -- Electric trains are nothing new to North Texas -- before DART there was the Texas Electric Railway, memorialized at 901 E. 15^th St., in Plano (adjacent to a DART stop). The museum, with model trains and interactive exhibits, is open Monday - Friday 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. and Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. Preschool story time, 10:30 a.m. Admission is free, but they’d love a dollar or two donation. See http://plano.gov/Departments/parksandrecreations/recenters/Interurban/ .

Family movies at the library -- Allen Public Library, 300 N. Allen Dr., screens Hunger Games this Saturday, August 18, at 2 p.m. For teens, ages 12-18. Free, bring your own snacks. Also, the library’s Elvis film series continues August 21 and 28. See www.cityofallen.org/index.aspx?NID=900/.

Tulisoma South Dallas Book Fair -- It’s August 24-26, at the African American Museum at Fair Park, 3536 Grand Avenue. Free, but some events require advance registration. While you’re in the museum, check out the galleries housing exhibits on the Freedman’s Cemetery and Fair Park sculptures, among others. See
http://tulisoma.org/ for details.

Spray parks -- Most public swimming pools are now closed for the season, but Dallas spray parks are open through September 4, for that last splash of summer. Free, of course. See www.dallasparks.org/Downloads/spraygroundschedule2012.pdf/.

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While you’re having fun, get the kids looking good with free children’s haircuts through August 31 at all JC Penney salons. Reservations strongly recommended because of high demand. Call 1-855-JCP-KIDS or go to www.jcpenney.com/FreeHaircuts/

Wordcraft -- The moon and Chinese fairytales

She’s the only Asian girl (except for her sisters) in the entire school until -- another Asian girl arrives who becomes her best friend.

Although author/illustrator Grace Lin changed the name of her best friend Alvina for her middle-grade novel, The Year of the Dog, several of her books mirror her life and the lives of her family of Taiwan immigrants, she told the audience last Saturday at the Allen Public Library.

Except, that is, when the books reflect the larger Chinese culture she rebelled against as a child. Fortunately, her wise mother left books of Chinese fairy tales on the shelves. And for an avid young reader, the stories proved irresistible, as Ms. Lin notes in the afterword to her take on tradition, her Newbery Honor winning Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, the tale of young Minli’s journey to find the Old Man of the Moon and change her family’s fate.

Ms. Lin’s own visits to Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan also inspired her art for both Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her current work-in-progress, Starry River of the Sky, she said, illustrating her talk with photographs of locations transformed into fantasy paintings.

Despite the day’s pouring rain, the audience was filled with children, who delighted in hearing the stories of their birth year animals in the twelve-year cycle of the Chinese calendar. (Ms. Lin was born in a tiger year, whose children are brave and strong, but prone to be impulsive, she told them wryly.)

Her journey as a writer and artist may have been born from a sudden decision, as she said in response to a question from a youngster in the audience about why she decided to write children’s books. But it wasn’t a random impulse.

When she was in the sixth grade, a teacher told her about a school writing contest whose first prize was publication. “I did not win first place,” she said. “But I did win a thousand dollars, and that sealed the deal for me.”

After studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, she published her first book, The Ugly Vegetables, in 1999 and hasn’t stopped since.

Her appearance was the latest in the Second Saturday Speaker Series sponsored by The Friends of the Allen Public Library (Allen, Texas), Bach to Books and Storyopolis Entertainment. For more about library events, see http://allenfriends.org/. 

And see and hear Ms. Lin read an excerpt from Where the Mountain Meets the Moon on the Today show at www.gracelin.com/.