The Washington Post - 28.08.2019

C8 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28 , 2019

ACROSS 1 Renovator’s protective cover 5 Not so exciting 10 Soak up the sun 14 “Dies __”: Latin hymn 15 Yoga pose 16 Hatchet man __ Brasi of “The Godfather” 17 *Speak carefully to avoid offense 19 Spoken 20 2019 award for author Walter Mosley 21 *Yahtzee, for one 23 Cry of success that can also be a sarcastic admission of failure 26 Ad-__: improvise 29 “__ won’t do” 30 Pinch pennies 35 Post-op sites 37 Not fooled by 39 Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum city 40 *Homemade song assortment 42 *Vocally imitate a drum machine 44 Spoken 45 Poetry event 47 Hatcher or Polo 48 Status __ 50 Forget to mention 52 Report card bummer 53 Norse mythology upheaval used as the subtitle of a 2017 “Thor” film 56 *Lunch from home 60 Repairs 64 Marshmallow blackener 65 Kitchen guide ... and where to find the starts of the answers to starred clues 68 Discomfit 69 Save a ton on the wedding reception?

70 Not pro 71 Sty feed 72 Often __: half the time 73 Check signer

DOWN 1 Life partner 2 Dry as a desert 3 Tolled, as a bell 4 Pie nut 5 Word after hee or yee 6 Spanish bear 7 Most challenging 8 Reversed 9 Dinosaur Jr. frontman J __ 10 Online journal 11 General vibe 12 Take in 13 Leafy vegetable 18 Middle of QED 22 __ Sketch 24 Blue-roofed eatery 25 Fishing gear 26 Succotash beans 27 Without warmth 28 Full-bosomed

31 “Out of the Cel- lar” metal band 32 Under the covers 33 Boxing legend Archie 34 Impish fairy 36 Incomplete Wikipedia entry 38 “Becoming” memoirist Michelle

41 Add beauty to 43 Mideast noble 46 Scam that takes a while to pay off 49 __ Tar Pits 51 Thick book 54 Irish speakers 55 Meaty fare from a falafel stand 56 Closest pals, initially

57 Tehran money 58 Rice-shaped pasta 59 Shed tears 61 Pitching gem, in baseball slang 62 “i” pieces 63 Hits the slopes 66 Wall St. debut 67 Darling

LA TIMES CROSSWORD By Steve Mossberg

TUESDAY’S LA TIMES SOLUTION

kidspost

W

hen author Mary Amato
thinks about her childhood,
she says she thinks about
singing.
“As a family we sang in
the car all the time,” Amato said. “It was
one of the most fun experiences because it
wasn’t alone. I was singing with my sisters
and with my mom and dad. It was a way to
connect.”
So it makes sense that Amato would
weave music into her books. In her latest
series, main character Lucy McGee sings,
plays the ukulele and writes her own
music. Readers can see the lyrics in the
book, but they can also hear the songs,
thanks to SoundCloud recordings Amato
made with the help of several kids.
“I wanted readers to have the fun of
being able to hear the songs and to learn
them, to be able to sing along,” she said. “I
think singing is best when you’re singing
with someone.”
Amato will sing with visitors at the
National Book Festival on Saturday at The
Washington Post’s booth. She promised to
bring her ukulele and a friend. Juliet
Wade, who is the voice of Lucy on the
recordings, will be there to sing along.
Visitors might even write a song with
Amato. To help KidsPost readers flex their
creative muscles, Amato shared her ad-
vice below on how to write a funny song.
— Christina Barron

You can write a funny song by taking a
familiar song and writing new words for
it. That’s called a parody. Song parodies
are great for singalongs, because every-
body already knows the tune.

Here’s a familiar song: Row, row, row your boat Gently down the stream Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily Life is but a dream.

And here’s a parody of it: Smell, smell, smell my socks Gently with your nose Terribly, terribly, terribly, terribly! Oh, my socks smell gross.

A parody follows the pattern of the original song and exchanges new words for the old words. To write your own song parody, first you have to decide what your song will be

about. Let’s do one about eating bugs. Follow the pattern and fill in the blanks. The original lines are underneath the fill-in-the-blank lines to help. Some of the blanks are filled for you.

_____, _____, _____ your bugs [ Row, row, row your boat] ________ with your spoon [Gently down the stream] _____, _____, _____, _____ Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily Let’s eat some bugs soon [Life is but a dream]

Want a bigger challenge? Try writing one on your own. Pet, pet, pet the dog? Blow, blow, blow your nose? You decide. Take it line by line and have fun. Notice in the original that “stream” and “dream” rhyme. You don’t have to rhyme, but it can be fun to try.

_____, _____, _____, _____ _____ Row, row, row your boat _____ _____ _____ _____ Gently down the stream _____, _____, _____, _____ Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ Life is but a dream.

When you’re done, don’t forget to teach it to your friends and family. Sing in the car! Sing in the bathtub! Sing around the campfire! Just don’t sing while you eat, because that’s disgusting. [email protected]

Bringing words to life through song

CHIP SAYS

In 1893, Caleb Bradham created a fizzy drink

called “Brad’s Drink.” On this day in 1898, he

renamed it Pepsi-Cola.

TODAY

The summer heat returns, but be on

the lookout for showers and

thunderstorms throughout the day.

KIDSPOST.COM

Do you like to draw? We

feature readers’ drawings as

part of our daily weather

ILLUSTRATION BY KNOX KELLY, 7, ARLINGTON forecast. Find details online.

If you go

What: The National Book Festival. Talks and book signings by authors for all ages. The children’s stages and Washington Post booth are on the Concourse Level. Where: Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place in Northwest Washington. When: Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Amato will be at The Post’s booth from 1 to 1:45 p.m. How much: Free. For more information: Visit loc.gov/ events/2019-national-book-festival.

NESTOR DIAZ

COURTESY OF MARY AMATO

TODAY’S NEWS

Weak rainfall is unlikely to extin- guish a record number of fires raging in Brazil’s Amazon anytime soon. With pockets of rain through Septem- ber, it is expected to bring only some relief, according to weather data and two experts. The tropical rainforest is being rav- aged as the number of blazes recorded across the Brazilian Amazon has risen 79 percent this year, according to INPE, the country’s space research agency. The rainy season on average begins in late September and takes weeks to build to widespread rains. The rain forecast in the next 15 days is concentrated in areas that need it least, according to Maria Silva Dias, a professor of atmospheric sciences at University of Sao Paulo. “The whole area needs it to rain more regularly, and this will only hap- pen further down the line, around October,” she said. It would take at least three-quarters of an inch of rain within a few hours to put out a forest fire, with more re- quired for more intense blazes. — Associated Press

ERALDO PERES/ASSOCIATED PRESS A fire burns Monday along the road to Jacunda National Forest, part of Brazil’s Amazon.

Even with rainfall,

fires in the Amazon

continue to burn

HOLIDAY HOUSE CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Mary Amato visits a Hyattsville, Maryland, library. The author, who will be at the National Book Festival this weekend, weaves music into her books, with help from her ukulele. In her latest book in the Lucy McGee series, the character Lucy plays the ukulele, sings and writes her own music.

fashion — sometimes the joy and hope of an entire populace can be communicated in a single splash of sunshine-bright lace. Toledo gave voice to immi- grants and women. She spoke for those who go their own way and aim for success on their own terms — sometimes by choice and sometimes because that is the only way possible. Toledo was the first in a long line of designers whom Obama championed as first lady — designers whose per- sonal story said something about the breadth of the American Dream. Toledo’s death does not sym- bolize the end of an era. She wasn’t of an era. That was her glory. She was a singular point of light. And without her, the fashion industry — and the broader creative community — is dimin- ished. [email protected]

ments expressed femininity and intellectual rigor; they exuded pleasure in the female form without obsessing over it. Toledo’s personality was stamped all over her work. She was admired by other designers, by museum curators, art- ists and academics. But Toledo’s was not a well-known brand. The inaugural ensemble introduced her to the public at large, and on that one day, her work told the world that the American fashion industry was populated by entre- preneurs — those politically lion- ized small business owners — who have big dreams but those dreams are not necessarily defined by enormous wealth and massive sales. Their idealism can be defined as a simple longing for the opportunity to live a creative, fulfilled life. That inaugural ensemble proved the expressive power of

seemed to feed off and nurture the imagination of the other. But it’s that inaugural suit that wrote Isabel Toledo into history. The choice of Toledo for the prestigious commission high- lighted an aspect of the American fashion industry that so often goes unnoticed. Toledo was an independent designer — in both business and philosophy. She didn’t have corporate backers; she didn’t have advertising; she didn’t live in the hot glow of social media, red carpets or celebrity influencers. Toledo worked quiet- ly and with a singular focus. Her collections were finished when she had seen her vision through to the end. Her style did not ebb and flow with the trends; it evolved with her moods and her life. Her thoughtfully crafted gar-

APPRECIATION FROM C1

Isabel Toledo’s walk to remember

CHARLES DHARAPAK/ASSOCIATED PRESS First lady Michelle Obama, wearing a dazzling, sunshine-bright dress and coat from Isabel Toledo, walks with the new president during the 2009 inaugural parade in Washington.