Making Toast

Yesterday I picked up a stack of books I had ordered...usually these sit on a TBR pile somewhere for quite a while. They are books I think I just can't live without, but the ones I have checked out from the library seem to take priority and these new treasures often get moved to the bottom of the stack, or under the bed, or somewhere where I just don't see them for a long time. Last night I decided I would look through my new purchases, and even let myself read the first page of a few of them. This system worked well until I started reading Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt. One page turned into two, and then 25 pages later, I forced myself to stop reading. This morning I continued reading and by noon, over my lunch break, I finished the entire book. I absolutely loved every word of this devastatingly sad memoir. Rosenblatt writes of his daughter Amy's unexpected death, collapsing on her treadmill while running, and the discovery of a heart condition that proved fatal. Amy left behind her husband, Harrison, and three young children. Her parents, also devastated by her death, move in with their son-in-law and grandchildren to assist with the tasks of daily life and child rearing. This new arrangement is not a short term fix, and Rosenblatt tells his granddaughter, Jessi, they are staying "forever" when she asks. Throughout this book bits of Amy's life are shared - small remembrances that help readers feel they know this woman who passed away before this book was written. Amy as a fast runner in elementary school. Amy as a doctor. Amy as a sister. As a mother singing songs to her children. And we come to know her children who enjoy their grandparents' presence, but who long for their mother.

Rosenblatt is careful to note the number of other people he knows who are suffering the loss of a child as well. There is some comfort in knowing other people understand this type of grief. I was not familiar with Rosenblatt as an author before, but I enjoyed his writing style immensely. My only wish is that this memoir did not end. I enjoyed hearing about Amy, her children and husband, and their extended family.

Hard Gold

Avi is one of those writers who has authored so many books about such a wide variety of subjects. I always marvel at how he is able to come up with yet another topic for a book. My library has a fairly large collection of his work, yet I have read only a few of them. A few weeks ago I picked up Hard Gold by Avi at the public library. My school doesn't own this one, and since it is historical fiction, it was calling my name. Set during the mid 1800's during the Colorado Gold Rush, I was able to learn a great deal about a topic in history I have heard of but never studied or read about.

As the story unfolds, Early is just fourteen years old, growing up on a farm in Iowa. His family is struggling to pay their mortgage due to the recent drought. The railroad company makes an offer to purchase their farm for a good sum of money, yet Early's father won't give in, hoping to pass down the farm to his oldest son, Adam. Early's uncle, Jess, who was raised by Early's parents, is older than Early, but more like a brother than an uncle. He has grand dreams of moving west to Pike's Peak to find gold. By doing so, he will be able to pay off the farm debt. No one is surprised when they find a note from Jess one morning telling them goodbye. However, they are surprised to find that the bank in town was robbed a few days before that, and that Jess is being considered a suspect. Now that he has run off, the authorities are sure he is the thief. Early can't get Jess out of his head and makes his own plans to head west. Things are much harder on the trail than he thought possible, but he makes the best of the situation, enjoying his time with Lizzie, the daughter of the family he was hired to help along the trail. There are many adventures along the way, as well as a bit of humor. Early still has one goal: reaching his uncle, despite what he is hearing from others when he starts asking after him.

This book included actual photographs and sketches of various aspects of life along the westward trail and the Colorado Gold Rush. Including these visual aids will be such a help to tween readers who may not be able to envision certain elements of this story because it is so different form our lives now. Sometimes historical fiction seems too difficult - so full of information and set in such an unfamiliar time period - that my students give up on it easily. Hard Gold is a very fast read and truly targeted at my fourth and fifth grade readers who should be able to understand the story and enjoy this period in our nation's history. While the ending seemed a bit predictable to me as an adult reader, it was still satisfying, and my student readers may not have the same feeling about the ending.

What Was I Thinking?

Today I was able to attend a morning session at the local AEA listening to different people book talk new children and young adult books. The good news is that I have many of the titles listed on the bibliography already, and the even better news is that there are some titles I don't have that sound interesting that I will happily order. Afterwards I had enough time to visit a nearby public library. Years ago I had a library card there, but haven't really allowed myself to go in lately because I already use three other public libraries. And, really. How many books do I think I can read? Today the library was calling my name, so I did let myself stop and browse. Of course I found a few books I really wanted to read. Checking them out is so much better than purchasing them, that I just couldn't resist getting yet another library card.

My picks?

Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill

The Confederate General Rides North by Amanda C. Gable

Mathilda Savitcfh by Victor Lodato

Belle in the Big Apple by Brooke Parkhurst

and

A Ticket To Ride by Paula McLain

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Shoot To Thrill by PJ Tracy due out on April 29, 2010

My pick this week is the next installment in a mystery series I have been hooked on for a few years. Written by a mother-daughter team, these mysteries are set in Minneapolis and provide plenty of suspense.

From PJ Tracy's website:

It's eighty-five degrees in the shade when Minneapolis detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth pull into the MPD parking garage. They're driving a tricked-out Caddy, repossessed from a low-level drug dealer. It's not a Beemer or a Mercedes, but it's got GPS, air conditioning, and electric seats with more positions than the Kama Sutra. But things are heating up inside the station house, too. The bomb squad's off to investigate another suspicious package at the mall, and kids are beating the crap out of each other and posting it on YouTube. And before Leo and Gino can wish for a straight-on homicide, the call comes in: a floater. Soon they're humping it along a derelict stretch of the Mississippi River, beyond the green places where families picnic and admire the views. They can see her-she looks like a bride in her white formal gown-face down, dead in the water. And so it begins. Across town, Grace McBride's Monkeewrench crew-the computer geeks who made a fortune on games, now helping the cops with anticrime software-has been recruited by the FBI to investigate a series of murder videos posted on the Web. It's not long before Rolseth, Magozzi, and Monkeewrench discover the frightening link between the unlucky bride and the latest, most horrific use of the Internet yet. Using their skills to scour the Net in search of the perpetrator, the team must race against the clock to stop a killer in his tracks. P.J. Tracy is the pseudonym of the mother-daughter writing team of Patricia Lambrecht and Traci Lambrecht. Winners of the Anthony, Barry, Gumshoe and Minnesota Book Awards, they each live in rural Minnesota, just outside of Minneapolis.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"She thought of Will, and stopped herself. It was his birthright, not hers. His truth, not hers. She'd come here to learn whether he belonged to her or to the Bravermans, but neither was true." (207) Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

I started this book last night and have been up late reading it. I just can't put it down!

The Musician's Daughter

Susanne Dunlap's young adult book, The Musician's Daughter is a historical fiction novel set in Vienna, Austria in the eighteenth century. This novel is full of suspense and intrigue as Theresa, a musician's daughter is thrown into a murder mystery involving the death of her father. Theresa and her family are not wealthy, although they are able to afford the instruments they find essential to their life. When her father's lifeless body is discovered along the banks of the Danube amid a gypsy settlement, Theresa cannot believe the story about her father's death and does her own investigation. She is shocked to find his connection with the gypsies who he had been befriending. When her father's coworkers (his fellow musicians) tell Theresa what they had been working on, the group of them work together to try and help the gypsies regain what was rightfully theirs, and in the process solve the mystery of her father's death.

This book was fast paced and suspenseful, as well as interesting. I seem to have picked up a number of historical fiction young adult books from the library all with the musical connection such as this one. I might not have normally been interested in a book with gypsy characters, and was happily surprised by this addition to the story. While this is fiction, the presence of real-life musician Haydn added an element of reality to this wonderful story.

Dunlap's writing was easy to read and after checking out her website today, I am happy to see that her new book, Anastasia's Secret will be published in March 2010. Her work is something I hope to read more of.

Visit Susanne Dunlap's website.

Library Loot

Another trip to the library yesterday - I meant to return books and not check anything out, but one look at the shelves and I found several new titles calling my name. I did give up on Going Bovine by Libba Bray, this year's Michael Printz award winner. Maybe I am just not the type of person to appreciate these Printz award books, but I couldn't get through Jellicoe Road last year and even 150 pages in to Going Bovine and I really didn't care one way or the other about this book. I know a committe of some very intelligent people who are very current on their young adult literature decide on this award, but I found it interesting that after both of my high school co-op students looked it over, neither one of them seemed the least bit interested in it, either - between the title and the cover there is like zero appeal.

Here is this week's library loot - that I am just adding to my leftover loot!

Young Adult Selections:

Steinbeck's Ghost by Lewiz Buzbee

Hidden Voices by Pat Lowery Collins

The Smile by Donna Jo Napoli

A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn

Looks by Madeleine George

The Real Real by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Adult Selections:

The Power of Half by Kevin Salwen and Hannah Salwen

Why My Third Husband Will Be A Dog by Lisa Scottoline

Honolulu by Alan Brennert

New Bedtime Favorites

A few weeks ago I received a lot of new books at school that I have slowly been reading to the students and my own children. On the recommendation of A Year of Reading, I ordered Monkey With a Tool Belt and Monkey With a Tool Belt and the Noisy Problem. These two book by Chris Monroe have been such a story time hit. So, last night I packed up the books to share with my own children. Unfortunately my eight year old feels she has moved beyond my picture book sharing. She might decide to listen every once in a while, but mostly she has her eyeballs in her own book. But, Middle Sister and Little Sister enjoy the nighttime story routine a lot. I read the first book Monkey with a Tool Belt way before bedtime when Middle Sister needed some TLC to help her through her tummy ache. She didn't laugh hysterically like my kids at school, but she did seem to enjoy it. And when bedtime rolled around and I presented the other book she was all over it. So was Little Sister who asked for a third monkey book when I was done. I don't know what Chris Monroe has in mind, but I hope it is working on more of these books.

From the first page where the monkey, Chico Bon Bon is introduced the kids pay attention. They love saying his name. (One kindergarten class was lined up yesterday but couldn't leave the library because outbursts of "Chico Bon Bon" could be heard all over their line). It is a good thing Chico has a toolbelt, because he needs it. In the first book Chico is kidnapped by an organ grinder from a circus and has to find his way out of the box. And in the second book, he must find out what the loud noise in his treehouse is so he can repair it. Chico's toolbelt is no regular tool belt, either. He has such a wide assortment of tools on it, it is no wonder he can get himself out of some rather tricky situations. The kids also love the illustrations - colorful and a bit funny they so wanted to hold this book in their own hands so they could look at things up close. Imagine their annoyance when I told them I was reading this book to another class so they wouldn't be able to take it with them. These books are going to be the ones that the kids fight over, so I hope Monroe is working fast to provide me with some more Monkey with a Tool Belt books. Middle Sister and Little Sister both have a Monkey book in bed with them, having slept with it all night.

A Mighty Long Way

Carlotta Walls Lanier, the author of A Mighty Long Way, is one of the Little Rock nine who helped to integrate Little Rock, Arkansas' Central High School in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This memoir was an easy read - at least as far as the writing goes. What was not easy was the idea of school segregation and the the racist behavior that Carlotta and her friends endured during their high school years. When most teenagers were busy attending football games, dating, and hanging out with their friends, Carlotta spent her days worrying about the safety of herself and her family and finding her way in an environment that she was not often welcomed in. She faced roadblocks on her road to graduation that her white peers never had to encounter, sometimes being unable to attend school due to threats made against her.

Carlotta achieved her dream of graduating from Central High School along with some of the other students who helped to integrate the school. While they did achieve their goal, it was not without a price. Carlotta does not complain about the path she chose in life, but does recognize that attending high school under such stressful circumstances did affect her ability to concentrate and accomplish certain things in college.

History books make mention of the Little Rock nine, and most students do know the story of Ruby Bridges, yet even having a little knowledge about this chapter in history did not give me the perspective that a person who lived it is able to. Walls did not write her memoir until later in her life, having tried to leave her infamy behind. Remembering the events she lived through was hard when she first began accepting speaking offers, but Walls persevered and continued to share her story with others. Today the Little Rock nine are a group of friends who meet and keep up with each other regularly. Their shared experience have bound them for life. Walls' first person account of this period in history is honest and interesting, and could easily be used in a high school curriculum as well as for pleasure reading. Any reader will be inspired by Walls' determination and pride.

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week's pick is the second in the Red Blazer Girls mystery series. Geared toward the tween crowd, the first book in the series was so clever - watch out Nancy Drew! I am anxious for the next book to come out in August.

From Amazon:

When there are mysteries to be solved, the Red Blazer Girls are on the case! The discovery of the Ring of Rocamadour has secured the girls' reputation as Upper East Side super-sleuths, bringing many sundry job requests (no mystery too small, right?) and some unwanted attention from crooks. This time the girls must follow a trail of cryptic clues, involving everything from logic to literature, to trace a rare violin gone missing. But nothing is as it appears, and just as a solution seems imminent, the girls find themselves scrambling to save the man who was once their prime suspect. Bowstrings and betrayal, crushes and codes abound in this suspenseful companion to the Red Blazer Girls' 2009 debut. Recent clues indicate that there'll be more mystery and mayhem to come!

Check out their website: redblazergirls.com

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"In three days, she could find out that Will didn't belong to the Bravermans and she could keep him happily for the rest of their life together. Three days seemed forever to wait, and at the same time not nearly long enough. Because in three days, she could also find out that Will did belong to the Bravermans, then..." (223) Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

I haven't started this one yet...it's next on my stack. It's just been released in paperback, so I have been hearing more about it these last few weeks.

President's Day

Several teachers remarked to me today that they had sort of forgotten about President's Day. I will admit I hadn't really thought much about it, except that we weren't going to get mail. Since I love getting the mail any holiday that cancels mail service is depressing, but considering the number of books I have read about the presidents I will forgive the lack of mail service and enjoy the celebration of our presidents.

We have several new books I have shared about Barack Obama at previous times, all to the great interest of my students. I just received another book, First Family by Deborah Hopkinson, that several groups had read to them today. This book was read at home a week ago, and enjoyed greatly by my children. The groups that heard it today also enjoyed it. It is interesting to find out what life in the White House is like, especially for Sasha and Malia. Students heard about their access to a movie theater, bowling alley and swimming pool. We also heard about the Obamas vegetable garden, Barack and Michelle's daily exercise regimen, and the Secret Service who keep the Obamas safe. The students remarked several times about the illustrations, all enticing to them where they were easily able to identify each of the Obamas and the events and activities that were a part of their daily routine.

While this is a school library book, I am sure my own children would love to own their own copy. They are very intrigued by the private life of the First Family and this picture book is right at their interest level.

The Overnight Socialite

Sometimes it is good to have a book to read that is just pure fun. The Overnight Socialite is a book that fits the bill in that regard. I read and enjoyed Bridie Clark's first book, Because She Can, a few years ago, and was excited to see this latest book.

Focusing on the society set in New York, Clark's novel is a rags to riches story. Lucy Jo is from a small town in Minnesota, trying to make it as a fashion designer in New York City. When she is fired from her job, Lucy doesn't have any options left. Until....Wyatt, newly single after breaking up with super rich, super bitch Cornelia Rockwood offer Lucy a proposition. Wyatt will help her make her way in society, and she will be an experiment of a sort for him. Lucy learns her lessons quickly, unaware of exactly how Wyatt is benefiting from her participation. Cornelia, upset that Wyatt would reject her is on a mission to exact revenge and find out exactly who Lucy is. Somewhat predictable, it is obvious that Lucy will be exposed for the average American she is, born without a silver spoon in her mouth or blue blood pedigree. And of course Lucy will figure out what Wyatt is up to and have to decide for herself how she wants to proceed.

Aside from this plot, there is also the story of Lucy and her mother's relationship - Rita has never been much of a mother to Lucy, who has often had to take care of her mom. When Lucy moves to New York she is able to leave her mother behind, and just as Lucy feels like she has a chance at realizing her dream, Rita shows up, jeopardizing everything for Lucy. Even though Lucy's treatment of her mother was at times rude, it was hard for me to root for Rita. Lucy was such a likeable character that even her mistreatment of her mother, which caused her to feel guilty, didn't make me like her any less.

This is a great chick lit book. I read this on my Kindle, and after getting into it, had a hard time putting it down. Despite some of its predictability, The Overnight Socialite was still an enjoyable read by an author I enjoy.

What I Saw and How I Lied

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell has been on my TBR pile for quite awhile, and after deciding to read this one for the Read From Your Shelves Challenge, I am so glad I got around to reading it.

Set right after World War II, Evelyn is fifteen years old, trying to grow up despite her mother's attempt to keep her young and innocent. Her stepfather, Joe, is back from the war, and they should be a happy family again, yet a few things are standing in their way. First of all, they are living with Joe's mother, Grandma Glad, who is anything but. She adores her son, but doesn't have much good to say about Evelyn's mother. Things with Joe are also a bit strange. Joe, Evelyn, and Bev (her mother) all take a rather impromptu vacation to Florida after receiving some strange telephone calls. While there a handsome stranger, Peter shows up and Evelyn falls for this dashing young man. It turns out that Peter knew Joe from their days in Europe together and there may be something not so innocent about their relationship.

This suspenseful historical fiction novel was a National Book Award finalist last year, and I was totally sucked into this story myself. It is easy to see why it has received recognition. Blundell's writing made me feel as if I were a part of Evelyn's life, able to envision the clothes, the setting, everything that made up her world. Even as I closed turned the last page of this book, I was left with some sense of uncertainty - knowing what I believed Evelyn saw and how she lied. I would love to discuss this with someone else who read this book to see if their interpretation is the same.

Living Oprah

Robyn Okrant's book, Living Oprah: My One Year Experiment to Walk the Walk with the Queen of Talk is an interesting and entertaining memoir recounting a year of Okrant's life as she tried to adhere to the many bits of advice Oprah hands out daily.

Okrant's book is broken up by month where she discusses the various advice Oprah dispenses at the time - either on her show or in her magazine. Okrant is probably much like myself in that prior to this she was not an avid Oprah fan, just someone who may or may not catch Oprah's show or read her magazine. Okrant does focus on the advice that Oprah gives, but she also gives us a look at her life outside of Oprah. As a memoir-lover, this book was right up my alley, even more than I thought it would be. I enjoyed the humor Okrant infused in her writing, and also the monetary amount that she spent each month while trying to take Oprah's advice. Okrant feels much as I do....Oprah is able to give some advice that is good, yet advice from her about uncluttering your life seems rather unbelievable since it isn't something someone who owns her own jet and several homes is practicing herself.

I really enjoyed this memoir, and have also been enjoying reading Okrant's blog, www.livingoprah.com.

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week's pick isn't coming out for months. However, I am excited to see Susan Gregg Gilmore has another book coming out because I absolutely loved Looking For Salvation at the Dairy Queen.

The following excerpt is taken from the authors' website, http://www.susangregggilmore.com/:

The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove by Susan Gregg Gilmore will be out on August 17, 2010.

Apparently among those who consider their social standing some measure of importance, I am to be admired, for I am one of few Nashvillians who can claim with infallible certainty that a blood relation has lived in this town since its inception. My mother, although a Grove by marriage, never tired of sharing this piece of family trivia at cocktail parties or morning coffees, convinced that it elevated her position far beyond what her birth parents could have guaranteed. And whether she did exaggerate the details in the hopes of impressing her peers, the truth remains that a poor Carolina farmer did pack his bags some two hundred and fifty years ago and set out to cross the Appalachian Mountains, heading west with his young bride determined to claim a few acres of his own and a better life for his family. He probably didn’t have a penny to his name by the time he got to Fort Nashboro begging for a hot meal and a place to sleep, but that doesn’t seem to matter to the Grove family anymore.
Legend has it that when the Chickamauga Indians attacked the Nashville settlement, they killed my ancestral father as he fought to protect his beloved wife. She grabbed the musket from her dead husband’s hands and continued the fight, killing three Indian warriors herself. Then she fell on top of her husband’s cold, bloody body and held him in her arms throughout the night.
Her name was Bezellia Louise, and for generations since, the first girl born to a Grove has been named in her memory. Although most official historians dispute any claims of her heroics, my father donated thousands of dollars to the Nashville Historical Society with the belief that eventually some fresh, young academic would see the past more according to my family’s advantage. But fact or fiction, I believed in her courage and passion and have always been proud to share her name.
Sadly, the Bezellias birthed before me never cared for this designation, preferring a monosyllabic moniker – like Bee, Zee or Zell – to their formal Christian name. My own mother disliked the name so much that for years she refused to let it cross her lips, calling me only sister, a generic substitution that summed up her distaste for my name and her inadequate affection for me. I, on the other hand, always wanted to hear my name in its entirety, never caring what others thought of it.

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Trixie Belden #2 - Childrens Classic Mystery Challenge

I'm not sure why I wait until I the second Tuesday of the month is almost upon us before I read another childrens mystery that were such a part of my childhood. I think about reading them often as the month goes on, but the TBR pile I have along with the enormous library stack just overwhelms me and I know that my Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden collections will always be around. So, this challenge is at least getting me to read one of these books each month, when before they would just continue to get pushed to the bottom of the pile.

This month I chose a Trixie Belden to read. Trixie, like Nancy, is a sleuth I was introduced to somewhere around the age of eight or nine. I bought my very first one on a vacation to Minneapolis one summer which is how I usually chose to spend my stash of money I saved up (I am sure I looked like a total nerd to my cousins who could have cared less about reading for pleasure). A few years ago I read the first Trixie Belden, and even though it wasn't fresh in my mind, I could still highlight the main idea of the book. I read the second book, The Red Trailer Mystery, which starts right where the first book left off. When I read the Trixie Belden books as a kid, I never read them in a particular order (what was I thinking? This would drive me crazy now!) and never knew the backstory about how Jim came to be adopted by the Wheelers. The first two books clear this up. These books are such a blast from the past, that even though I don't think they are particularly riveting, it is hard not to enjoy them as a part of my childhood. This month my daughter who has her own book blog, Reading Fever, started reading some of the mystery series I have been telling her about. Last night she was working on Encyclopedia Brown and she happened to notice my Trixie Belden book. It was interesting to see the look of recognition in her eyes as we both procrastinated until the last few days to dig out our books, and as she expressed her interest in one day reading a Trixie book on her own.

I'm not sure what mystery I will read next month. Earlier this month I read a post about Cherry Ames....right now the first four books are sitting in my cart on Amazon because I have never experienced a Cherry Ames book and wonder what I am missing. Hopefully I will be a little bit better about thinking and reading ahead.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Fernanda's hair was her one vanity. Lovely and thick, it took a full hour to blow dry during twice weekly appointments at Garren. And that very afternoon- after a month on a waiting list, not to mention her entire week's salary at Christie's- she'd finally gotten her first cut-color-blowout appointment with the Lower East Side shut-in that Cornelia and all the girls raved about."

Overnight Socialite by Bridie Clark - taken from my Kindle

So far I am enjoying this chick-lit book and my Kindle, even though participating in a Teaser Tuesday post is different using the Kindle- not so much being able to just pick a page and find a quote. I felt restricted to staying within two or three pages of where I am currently reading.

Some Grown-Up Reading

Around February 3, I was busy talking to a friend and lamenting the fact that I had not finished a single book in February. I was seriously freaking out. The month was flying by and I had nothing to show for it. Right now I have almost ten books I am reading. So, I am making progress in them, but it is slow because I just am moving forward slowly in all of them. Well, after my minor freak out about not reading quickly this month, I realized it was only the 3rd of February. I still have plenty of time to get some reading done. It is now February 8 and I have finished four books with two more that I can probably finish up tonight. Life is good.

Noah's Compass, Anne Tyler's latest book is one I read this weekend. I usually read Tyler's work, but am never completely in love with it. I probably shouldn't admit this since I think her work is probably very beautifully written. Yet, when I am looking at the stack of books in my TBR pile I know that I rarely take the time to really enjoy the writing. I am all about the plot. Noah's Compass is about Liam, a sixty year old teacher who has been let go from his job. He is a divorced father of three girls who is, at best, a bit disengaged from his life. He seems remote, not really a part of anything, and his own distant relationship from his children is evidence of this. When he moves to a new apartment and is attacked during his first night there, he wakes up in the hospital, unable to remember anything of what happened. This also brings him into more contact with his family and gives Liam an opportunity to renew some relationships he let slide.

The front jacket's blurb comments that there is a little of Liam in all of us. Without being able to articulate this any better than that, I did feel while I was reading that even though I didn't really get Liam or some of the decisions he made, I could in some ways relate to him.

Yesterday I decided to unearth the library book Born Round by Frank Bruni, a memoir of Bruni's love/hate relationship with food. I had started this book a while ago (I won't mention how overdue it is) and always meant to get back to it - this isn't even one of the ten books I was reading when I listed them. Not wanting to give up on it, I did start it back up yesterday, and polished it off at bedtime. Bruni talks a lot about the weight fluctuations he has had and how devastating gaining weight was for his self esteem. Bruni also discusses his homosexuality and how his weight and self esteem affected his ability to be in a relationship. For whatever reason I always enjoy reading these memoirs about how other people achieve success in overcoming their obsession with food and eating (I say this as I binged on monster bars at breakfast this morning). Bruni's first book, Ambling Through History chronicling Bush's ascent to the presidency is one I had read when it first came out years ago, never having heard of Frank Bruni, the author. Born Round is one of the memoirs I have heard a great deal about in 2009, and while it was good, it is also a book that I was able to put down for over a month before picking it back up.

Library Loot

Today's visit to the library netted me another stash of great looking books. The only problem is that I already have a huge stash of library loot that I haven't even touched yet. However, it is hard for me to pass up a great looking book. I did feel quite virtuous as I passed over the new Adriana Trigiani and Kristin Hannah's newest book, knowing that these two will be ones that people will really want and that I just don't have time to read quickly enough.

So, this is what I walked away with:

Adult:

1. The Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens

Young Adult/Tween:

1. A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell

2. This Family is Driving Me Crazy: Ten Stories about Surviving Your Family Edited by M. Jerry Weiss and Helen Weiss

3. Donut Days by Lara Zielin

4. Gentlemen by Michael Northrop

5. Hard Gold by Avi

6. Dear America: Land of the Buffalo Bones: The Diary of Mary Ann Elizabeth Rodgers, An English Girl in Minnesota, New Yeovil, MN 1873 by Marion Dane Bauer

7. The Goodbye Time by Celeste Conway

8. Feathered by Laura Kasischke

The Liberation of Gabriel King

Back in 2005 I started reading The Liberation of Gabriel King by K.L. Going with a group of fifth graders. I know other school librarians do this - read chapter books- but for some reason, this just never works for me. I only see groups once a week and end up having to abandon the chapter book somewhere along the way - because we have research skills we are working on, or because teachers ask me to cover something they will need their kids to have for class, or because we miss a week or two for various no school days and pretty soon no one can remember what we read previously.

The Liberation of Gabriel King was my first chapter book attempt with a group, and we did make it several chapters in, but ended up not finishing it. This year one of my fifth grade book clubs picked it to read, and I knew that finally I was going to finish this one up.
Set in 1976, the year of America's bicentennial, Going's book explores some good themes for us to discuss: friendship, race, fear to name a few.

Gabriel King is best friend with Frita, a black girl who is full of excitement and ideas. Gabe, on the other hand, has a lot of things he is frightened of. Duke Evans, the bully in his class is at the top of his list, and Frita decides to dedicate her summer to liberating Gabriel from his fears. While Frida doesn't have quite as many fears as Gabe, she has her own issues to deal with - one being the fact that she is black and she and her family faced violence from the Klan in the past.

My students are enjoying this one. Going has included enough to talk about, yet not too much, either, as this novel is aimed at tweens. While the 1970s seem like the old days to my fifth graders, the fact that this type of racism was practiced during my lifetime is disturbing.

This week we will finish up this novel and move on to something else; this group of students has been such a good group to have discussions with and this novel was a great fit for us.

Visit KL Going's website.

Dance Marathon

This weekend is the annual Dance Marathon at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. Shortly after our oldest daughter began treatment for hepatoblastoma, a rare childhood liver cancer, we attended our first Dance Marathon. The whole experience was overwhelming from time to time, but not in a bad way. Watching thousands of college kids take part in this event that is FTK (for the kids) and raise tons of money so that they are able to provide activities and extras that help make a child's hospital stay more comfortable and entertaining is amazing. Thinking back to my own college days at a small liberal arts college that didn't have anything like Dance Marathon, I don't know how much time I would have found to give to such a worthwhile cause. These students made our stay in the hospitals so much better- and even when our daughter didn't act like she wanted them around, they continued to come and visit her and spend time with her and made her feel special.

This is our fifth trip to Dance Marathon. Chris and I have mixed feelings about these annual trips. They bring up a lot of feelings that we wouldn't mind forgetting. But, it is always wonderful to see the people that were with us and helped us through some of the worst days of our life. And, it is good to be around other families who truly do understand what you have gone through.

As our girls do every year, they proclaimed that this year's Dance Marathon is the best one yet. Dance Marathon 2010 was Disney themed and the girls rushed around getting autographs from different Disney characters. They also enjoyed eating unlimited cotton candy (L had her first helping today at 8:30 AM), popcorn and slushies, jumping in the blow-up castle, and tatooing themselves everywhere. Flashes of Hope provided family photographs for all the families, the Best Buy room featured different games for kids to play, and meals and hotel rooms were provided.

While I didn't get a lot of reading done (only one measley chapter in Bridie Clark's book The Socialite that I am reading on my kindle), spending a weekend at Dance Marathon is always memorable and a reminder of what is really important.

Black and White

I have read some of Dani Shapiro's work and have always enjoyed it. This month Shapiro's latest, a memoir titled Devotion, is out. This is one I have added to my TBR list, all the while working on an older book of Shapiro's, Black and White. The plot in this book is similar to one I have read in a different book (don't ask me which one!) a few years ago....Clara's mother, Ruth Dunne is a famous photographer- most well known for the pictures she took of a young Clara in the nude. Clara leaves home as a teenager, never to return, and remains estranged from her mother despite the many years that have elapsed. Clara remains in touch with her sister, Robin, and learns that her mother is dying of lung cancer. At first Clara returns home without her husband or daughter, trying to make peace with her mother and the way her mother used her to advance her career. Eventually Clara flees, then returns to be with her mother, bringing her family along as she tries to reconcile her past with the person she is now.

Looking at snapshots in time - both the present and past - as we learn more about Clara and her mother and their relationship - is an effective way to tell this story. Once I started reading, I was easily able to recall the enjoyment I felt previously when reading one of Shapiro's books. This book would make a great book club book. I know I would love to discuss the ending and the decisions Clara makes concerning her future and the feelings she has about her mother's work.

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Although this may cement my position as a nerd forever, I am elated to announce that on April 1 the Babysitter's Club prequel, The Summer Before by Ann M Martin will be released.

The following is a product description from Amazon:

Before there was the Baby-Sitters Club, there were four girls named Kristy Thomas, Mary Anne Spier, Claudia Kishi, and Stacey McGill. As they start the summer before seventh grade (also before they start the BSC), each of them is on the cusp of a big change. Kristy is still hung up on hoping that her father will return to her family. Mary Anne has to prove to her father that she's no longer a little girl who needs hundreds of rules. Claudia is navigating her first major crush on a boy. And Stacey is leaving her entire New York City life behind...
...in order to find new friends in Stoneybrook, Connecticut.
The Summer Before . . . is a sweet, moving novel about four girls on the edge of something big - not just the Club that will change their lives, but also all the joys and tribulations of being twelve and thirteen.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

"Ruth doesn't react. She just takes it all in, wishing - Clara is certain- that she had a camera in her hand. Even now, she is framing her subject: her grown daughter, face contorted by outrage, sitting in the old wing chair with a pile of photographs on her lap (79)."

Black and White by Dani Shapiro

On My List

I can't believe it is bedtime and I have yet to write a book review today. Where did my day go? Well, school was a busy place today. One wing of my building had Promethean boards installed. So far I have only made it to four classrooms to show teachers how to turn them on, hook their computers to them, and some basic operating skills. I had a meeting after school til 6, at which point I drove home, picked up my kids and took them to gymnastics until 8 PM. So, it is after 9 PM and the girls are sort-of in bed and honestly I am beat. At 4:15 AM I repeat this whole routine again.

The two most pressing things I want to blog about before I get too far behind:
The fact that the girls have decided to write down and look up different words we run across in our nightly reading, or even in conversation. Last night we wrote down insomnia, incinerate, shears, unkempt, molting, eucalyptus, hasten, and gaudy. Most of these were from Mitch and Amy by Beverly Cleary. My oldest daughter is intending to write these down on her own blog.

The fact that Peaceful Reader nominated me for the Kreativ Blogger award - my first - and that I have been jotting down some notes so that I can pass on this award to some other great blogs and bloggers.

I am hoping tomorrow brings a few more free minutes for me to actually sit down and get my thoughts organized. It's good to be busy, but a few moments of peace wouldn't hurt my feelings, either.