What a gorgeous day! Sat outside for awhile drooling over all the cool international sites in the Conde Nast Traveler magazine while poor Sophie hid from the mockingbirds before catching up a bit on email.

We spent the morning cleaning house as the realtor showed it this afternoon. The "looker" wanted to see the subdivision pool so maybe they were very interested. A house similar in size to ours sold down the street so sales are starting to pick up. We drove down to a restaurant on the Kentucky River for lunch. I am still tasting the burger - yuck!! Won't be ordering a burger there again, but what a gorgeous day to sit and watch the river. Two pontoon boats on the river - they have to be crazy with the logs and other debris in the river after all the rain we've had.

Cover art on the June 15th issue of Time shows a twitter posting on a iPhone. I had to chuckle as I read the article about sharing your life in 140 spurts. Twitter was not this big when I wrote the article for YALS on cell phone novel bestsellers in Japan. In the U.S., we are using the cell phone to "talk" to each other rather than for authoring books 140 characters at a time. I am perplexed as to why we need to share what we had for breakfast via our cell phones, but I guess it isn't much different than what I am doing right now on this blog, but in short bursts during the day. Perhaps if I twittered I might actually share the "stuff" I remind myself to add to the blog and then I don't find the time to blog for days and having long since forgotten the "tidbit" I wanted to share.

The article that caught my attention more than the cover story on the "cultural force" twitter has become is the Coeli Carr's "No Souvenirs" article about adding radio frequency identification (RFID) to surgical sponges so they can be tracked. In other words, if the surgeon "forgets" to remove all the sponges during your surgery they can track them! This may seem like a bit much but I think it is a superb idea. Doctors will be more careful and if a mistake should be made they can find the sponge. Mic had his adenoids removed when tubes were put in his ears and the doctor left a sponge behind. Poor Mic had a nasty nasal discharge and the pediatrician kept saying he had a rash under his nose and sinus trouble, but Mic was miserable. It took months of going to the pediatrician with no results until I finally went to a different ear, nose and throat doc than the one who did Mic's surgery. He looked up Mic's nose, and before I could blink, stuck a thin nosed pair of tweezers up there and pulled out the nastiest smelling gross piece of gauze you have ever seen or smelled. And, before I could insist I wanted it for "evidence," he rushed out and flushed it down the toilet. So much for being able to do anything about the discomfort Mic went through and the multiple trips to the pediatrician. Tracking surgical sponges - I say, yeah - go for it!

I mentioned the writing/children's literature degrees that the new YA authors have in my last blog. New YA author Tonya Cherie Hegamin is also high educated, with an MFA in Writing for Children and is an alum of a writer's retreat. Hegamin calls herself a poet, but I would say she is also a gifted novelist. Her debut YA novel M+O 4EVR http://search.barnesandnoble.com/M-O-4EVR/Tonya-Hegamin/e/9780618495702/?itm=1 is stunning. This beautifully crafted contemporary novel about two childhood friends who become very different teens, drifting apart as they mature, also includes a poignant tale of a runaway slave who falls in love with the Native American who helps her escape. O, whose given name is Opal, is raised by her grandmother, the storyteller who weaves the slavery tale into the stories she tells O and M (Marianne) when they are little girls. They play in the woods near the ravine where the slave girl ran to her death rather than be captured. M is running with the wild crowd, while O hides behind the hat she pulls low on her head and too big guy's clothes, watching her childhood friend, the one she loves, leave her behind. One of the teens will find herself at the edge of this ravine and make a choice that will affect both their families. This is not a novel written in verse, but the economy of words in this poignant debut is the work of a gifted poet, a gift author.

I read Hegamin's novel a couple of weeks ago, so when I started going through the new Houghton Mifflin titles I was delighted to find Hegamin's debut picture book, Most Loved in All the World http://search.barnesandnoble.com/M-O-4EVR/Tonya-Hegamin/e/9780618495702/?itm=1, about a girl who is too little to help her mother pick cotton but not too little to carry water to the fields during the day and watch her mama work on a quilt at night that tells a story. Cozbi A. Cabrera's illustrations bring the little girl and her mama to live,l as well as the quilt that tells the story of freedom - the safe cabin, the tree with the moss on the north side, and the brightest star. Mama finishes the quilt, puts it over her arm, and takes her daughter into the night where she hands her, and the quilt, over to another woman who will take her to safety. Mama return to the fields and her role of helping other slaves escape to freedom. Hegamin includes an afterward for parents and teachers discussing the role quilts played in the Undeground Railroad as well as a short bibliography of further reading. Again, Hegamin beautifully exhibits her ability to tell a poignant story with an economy of words. A wonderful new title to share with children during storytime and to add to the recommended titles for teachers to use in their classroom during African History Month.

Sounds like they are having a party at the pool - hope they don't go too late. I don't mind being lulled to sleep by music, just not this kind of music! Now to finish watching Harper's Island - glad this is a TV show and not a R rated movie or I couldn't handle it. Kind of like Ten Little Indians with characters being killed off one by one.

I am sitting in the living room watching the news - we are getting good weather this weekend - up to the low 80s. :-) We have had so much rain and cold weather this week that Steve turned on the heat last night to take the chill out. Mary said they had frost warnings in Green Bay so I really shouldn't complain. I sat outside and brushed Sophie for a while this afternoon but we have 3 very irritating mockingbirds who make harassing Sophie their favorite thing to do. They will dive bomb her even if I am on the back porch with her. They must have a nest in a yard near us, but it is not in ours. We have a family of robins that we love but these dang mockingbirds are a pain with their screeching and pooping on our railings. Makes it difficult to enjoy the weather - we have the back door open and Sophie just came flying in! She must have gotten pecked. She will not try to swat at them and ignores them until they dive bomb her. Poor baby!



Since I have had to keep my foot elevated I had a chance to do some reading and I couldn't put down Graceling by Kristen Cashore http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Graceling/Kristin-Cashore/e/9780152063962/?itm=1 It is a 2009 William C. Morris YA Debut Award finalist http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/morris/finalists.cfm and rightfully so. For a debut novel it is stunning. It is no surprise that Cashore has a master's in children's literature as clearly she has honed her craft. I find it very interesting, as I research new authors and their Debut YA novels, that a large number of these authors have master's degrees in children's literature and clearly envisioned a career as a youth literature author. This realization makes me even more intrigued to meet these new authors via their debut novels. Cashore introduces Katsa, a young woman who has been trained to be a killer and does the dirty work for her uncle, the King, breaking bones and cutting off fingers to terrorize anyone who crosses him. Katsa does not question her role as the King's killer until she meets a young prince who can hold his own both in hand to hand combat with her as they help each other hone their fighting skills. Katsa leaves their "practice" sessions barely winded, but Po limps away with bruises even though Katsa is holding back. Katsa is a Graceling - she has two different color eyes and she had grown up assuming her Grace is to kill. Po, who is also a Graceling, with a Grace he does not initially share with her, will help her find her true Grace as well as save a young girl from a king even more savage than Katsa's uncle. I cannot wait for the sequel and wish I had been at BEA to get an ARC. Check out Cashore's blog as it has the cover art for the sequel Fire http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/. It is fun to read about a new author who is an excited to meet the author as we YA readers are. :-) Cashore is fellow blogspot blogger! I can't wait to read about Katsa and Po's next adventure. This is a romance but if you booktalk it from Po's point of view you'll have male fantasy readers loving it as well. Katsa may be the main character, but Po is a very strong companion character who holds his own and then some! A must have in every HS level YA collection.

I wish Sophie would be a bit more sassy and fight off the mockingbirds as would Rotten Ralph, one of my favorite fictional cats, created by one of my favorite authors - Jack Gantos. He is as funny in life as Rotten Ralph is on paper. It is hard to believe Rotten Ralph has been around since 1976, but now we can enjoy another one of this sassy cat's escapades as he learns he is running out of cat lives - oh no! I chuckled my way through The Nine Lives of Rotten Ralph http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Nine-Lives-of-Rotten-Ralph/Jack-Gantos/e/9780618800469/?itm=2 Oh what a delight to revisit a bit of Ralph's adventures as he lost 8 of his 9 lives. But, you know he isn't going to settle down - well, maybe a little bit! Nicole Rubel illustrates this latest edition to the Rotten Ralph saga and if seeing this naughty cat in a baby bonnet doesn't make you laugh, you have lost your sense of humor! Set this out on display along with the older Rotten Ralph titles and you'll pull in readers as well as current fans.

All for now. Have a wonderful weekend and take at least a few minutes to meet a character in a new YA or children's book who you can share next week at work. Yes, it is okay for adults to read children's and YA literature even if they don't work with teens or children. Just go on vacation and note the number of adults reading youth titles. I am not a big Harry Potter fan but these books have certainly made reading children's and YA books "cool"!

It is hard to believe but Steve and I will have been married for 7 years at 5:30 this afternoon. I am so bad with numbers and dates that he chose May 30 (5/30) at 5:30 so I would remember our anniversary date. And, he proposed on Thanksgiving so I don't have to remember a particular date. What a wild ride it has been from the economic crisis in Houston that sent us to the U.S. Virgin Islands to try island living (not to my liking) and now in horse country with the hopes of moving to Florida soon. Just waiting for the house to sell but we are in no big hurry as are some of the folks trying to sell before they default on their mortgage. Summers are a wonderful season in KY so I have no problem with waiting for the right buyer as long as we have to. There certainly hasn't been a dull moment since we met in 2001 and I thought I'd lost him before we had a chance to develop a relationship when he was supposed to be in the World Trade Center but, thankfully, missed his plane. Our guardian angels have been working over time for both of us.

We are going to dinner at the lovely Merrick Inn here in Lexington but I won't be able to wear cute little sandals due to the wound between my big and second toe. Who would have thought to look for moles between your toes? I would not have had I not read an article in a woman's magazine about skin cancer. I read anything I see on skin cancer as I have a not so lovely scar on my back due to the removal of a cancerous mole and surrounding tissue last summer. Well, the scar between my toes may mess with wearing my favorite style sandals, but two scars on my back certainly curtail any thoughts of a low back dress tonight! During my annual check up yesterday he found another mole on my back that had to be removed. Hopefully he took enough tissue around it this time that he doesn't have to go back in for more like he did last year. So ladies - have your significant other check your back and you check those odd places like between your toes, your belly button, and under your arms. The "bad" kind of moles tend to hide there. Am I paying for frying myself in baby oil as a teen? I am hoping the 15 years in Alaska where I rarely was in the direct sun will save me from too many more scars.

I finished up an article for Library Media Connection on new YA authors and their debut novels. which will be in the October issue. What fun research! One of the novels I read had started as the author's master's thesis and she won a writing contest sponsored by Canadian Orca Book Publishers who also publish the wonderful Soundings titles - high interest subjects/themes for teens with low reading levels. However, Leanne Lieberman's Gravity http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Gravity/Leanne-Lieberman/e/9781554690497/?itm=1 is not one of the easy read titles and it certainly doesn't let you forget about it once you close the book. You feel like you have vicariously spent time with Ellie Gold as she comes to terms with her own sexuality within the very confining rules of her religion and culture - her family is Orthodox Jewish. Ellie's older sister can't wait to leave home for college but Ellie finds security in her faith and the rituals that go with it. Then she spends part of the summer with her non-Orthodox grandmother at a lake outside of Toronto and Ellie discovers that the barely clad body of the neighbor, Lindsay, is more interesting than the frogs science-minded Ellie has been observing. Ellie is infatuated with Lindsay and when she's back in Toronto she walks by Lindsay's school in the hopes they will "accidentally" bump into each other. Before Ellie realizes what is happening she is in a sexual relationship with Lindsay, forcing Ellie to examine her attraction to females and how it impacts her faith.

One of my favorite children's authors is Barbara Joosse, whose name you may recognize from her Mama, Do You Love Me? http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Mama-Do-You-Love-Me/Barbara-M-Joosse/e/9780877017592/?itm=1 with a lyrical text complimented beautifully by the Arctic set illustrations of Alaskan artist Barbara Lavallee. This book is a delight to read aloud as is In the Night Garden http://search.barnesandnoble.com/In-the-Night-Garden/Barbara-M-Joosse/e/9780805066715/?itm=1 in which three little girls pretend to be different animals - a bear, a sled dog and a whale - as they play outside as evening sets in and it is time to go to bed. Elizabeth Sayles' illustrations, lush with pastel shades of blue and purple, perfectly compliment the simple text as three distinctly different little girls (one blonde, one in dreads, and one with short black hair in pigtails)"Rraaaaow, Haaoooo, and Eeeee" as a bear, dog, and whale as they prepare for bed. I cannot wait to read this one with my granddaughter McKinley and let her do the roaring, howling, and whale song along with me. Barbara Joosee will always hold a special place in my heart as she went out of her way to be emotionally supportive to me after Mic died. It was as if she had written him as a young child into her I Love You the Purplest http://search.barnesandnoble.com/I-Love-You-the-Purplest/Barbara-M-Joosse/e/9780811807180/?itm=2 where two siblings, one fierce (my Mary-although both book characters are boys) and one shy (my Mic) want to know who their mother loves best. I could not have found a better way to tell my children how my love for each of them is as individual and unique as they are. She has a gift for writing books that we parents need to share with our little ones - she helps us say, through her stories, the very things for which we can't find words of our own.

While I was working on this blog entry, Steve came home with a wonderful light lime green floppy brimmed hat for me with UVA protection so I can still ride with him in his car with the top down. And a picture of horses racing in the snow - to remind us of the first year we watched races at Keeneland - the last race was in white out conditions! My presents for him have a Florida theme (a solar lighthouse, a scaled to size sailboat to sit next to it, and a small potted palm tree) whereas his is Kentucky themed right down to a matching stuffed horse and key ring whose crazy sounding neighs indicates they got into some fermented oats! I'm going to wear the tiny, but very detailed, horse earrings tonight. :-) I am sure our next 7 years together will be as full of fun and adventures as our last almost 8 together has been.

I am thoroughly disgusted with myself that I have not blogged in a month! I talk to my students about time management, but I let myself get caught up in spending way too much time dealing with emails and that is just my ECU email. I rarely check my yahoo one anymore as I just don't have the time. I was just reading through the ALA newsletter and feeling overwhelmed with only browsing through the connections to myriad social networking options, YouTube library/youth literature related videos, etc. I could spend all day online. My goal is to limit my time daily on email - we'll see if it works.

Today is my last day of "vacation" between Spring semester and the Summer session. And, basically I haven't taken a day off during the break. Somehow it is much more time consuming to bring a new Blackboard site up than it used to be to update lecture notes, etc. when I taught face to face classes. It is amazing how many URLs I list in the course documents that have to be updated each semester. I feel like the Internet has taken over control of me!

This morning I was going through the last of the Sunday paper while watching NBC and there was a short piece on a group of teens who went without their cell phones and other electronic "toys" for 10 days. Wow - they actually did their homework and communicated with their families! I can't imagine bringing up kids in this technology glutted world where they'd rather text message than spend time with real people. I have been wavering over whether or not I am going to "treat" myself to an iPhone. Do I really want to be able to check my email from my phone? The more I think about it the less I like the idea. Perhaps we all need to have a "technology free" time during our day.

I type this in my home office with six 5-shelf bookcases filled to the brim - some of them double-shelved with children's, YA, and youth services professional print materials. Looking around at the books helps me feel grounded in a world where I feel like the lone wolf who has yet to explore Second Life or other virtual worlds. I know me - I could get lost in those worlds like I do in my books. And honestly - I rather the comfort of my books, whether I read them or listen to them.

Speaking of listening to books. I listened to Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Tree-Grows-in-Brooklyn/Betty-Smith/e/9781433203138/?pv=y and savored all 14 hours of it. I remember reading it when I was a tween, but I missed out on so much reading it as such an "innocent". I found myself smiling at the irony of young Francie Nolan's Aunt Cissy calling all of her "husbands" John no matter what their name actually was. I even chuckled aloud when I caught the old b/w movie version of it the other day and noted that they had changed the generic husband name to Bill instead of John. I guess the "hooker" connotation was too much for the time period. Heck - it went right over my head when I first read it! The author grew up in the same part of Brooklyn her protagonist did, in a time when families like the Nolans were the poor who lived in buildings where families shared a bathroom and knew everyone else's business. Francie adored her alcoholic father and disliked her mother, who was the strength and backbone of the family. It wasn't until her mother is in labor, with a child born after the father dies, that Francie realizes her mother does need her more than her beloved younger brother. So often we give children and teens books, especially classics, with young protagonists, assuming because the characters are children or teens that the book is appropriate. Somehow "maturity level" of the reader does not come into play when we recommend classics as they are so much "tamer" than the modern day young adult novels. I beg to differ! As I listened to Francie's tale I pondered why a teacher had recommended to me, but then again, she was the same teacher who had us reading Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter in 9th grade English- I didn't "get" that one until I read it again in college!

As far as a true YA novel goes - one of my favorites of late is Alex Flinn's A Kiss in Time http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Kiss-in-Time/Alex-Flinn/e/9780060874193/?itm=4 which came out in April. When you have had enough of the gritty, edgy YA realistic fiction (I often feel this way) and want something fun to read - grab this one. If you have kept up with my blog you'll know Alexandra is one of my all time favorite YA authors. She can "blow you away" with her edgy contemporary realistic novels such as Breathing Underwater http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Breathing-Underwater/Alex-Flinn/e/9780064472579/?itm=2 that addresses abuse from the 16-year-0ld teenage abuser's point of view and Breaking Point http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Breaking-Point/Alex-Flinn/e/9780064473712/?itm=5 where we hold our breath as we vicariously live through Charlie being tormented by his fellow private school classmates. And then she can merge the contemporary setting with the fantastical fairy tale in Beastly http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Beastly/Alex-Flinn/e/9780060874179/?itm=9 - a contemporary Beauty and the Beast. One cannot help but chuckle over the online chat room for "creatures" such as the Beast. I love her sense of humor! So after enjoying her first foray into the fantastical, I knew I'd enjoy A Kiss in Time. Growing up on fairy tales, I knew Princess Talia would indeed prick her finger on a spindle and be awoken by a kiss, but this is where the story takes a contemporary detour. The kiss is laid on her by a less than charming contemporary teenage Jack who gets lost while sneaking away to look for adventure on his European tour. He certainly isn't seeking true love. Alternating between Talia's and Jack's perspective, the reader is allowed to vicariously watch this unlikely couple learn to care about each other. For girls who love chick lit and fantasy this will be a delight. Suggest it as a fun read for the beach or at the pool.

I do love fantasy and would read nothing but if I were totally selfish. So, I (who despises what Disney has done to the great traditional tales of the past) admit I watched Enchanted http://video.barnesandnoble.com/DVD/Enchanted/Amy-Adams/e/786936716061/?itm=2 while "wallowing" in the New York Times yesterday morning. I constantly have to remind myself that if I am going to stay current with children's and teens' reading/viewing/listening materials I need to go beyond my own "comfort level". However, the only character I was enchanted with in this movie was the chipmunk! What a dorky movie, but little girls/tweens/teens/adult women (!) who still want to be princesses will enjoy it. I'd prefer they watch Ella Enchanted http://video.barnesandnoble.com/DVD/Ella-Enchanted/Anne-Hathaway/e/786936244892/?itm=3 with Anne Hathaway as the self reliant princess who can take on wicked stepmothers and sisters as she fights to overcome her curse of being obedience. Then hand them Ellen Carson Levine's wonderful tween novel of the same name, which this movie is based on http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ella-Enchanted/Gail-Carson-Levine/e/9780064407052/?itm=1.

Okay - that's it for today. :-)

One of my Young Adult literature students, Katie Allen, went to listen to Laurie Halse Anderson talk about her new book, Wintergirls http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Wintergirls/Laurie-Halse-Anderson/e/9780670011100/?itm=1 and had her picture taken with Anderson. I've not read this searing YA novel that came out in March, about the impact of anorexia on both the sufferer and the ones who love her, but it is on my "gotta read" list. I haven't read one of Laurie's books that I haven't loved. If it is as heart wrenching as Speak http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Speak/Laurie-Halse-Anderson/e/9780142407325/?itm=1 (and the reviews indicate it is) it will be one you will not forget. The latest issue of VOYA has a poem that Anderson wrote, the text of which is primarily taken from letters she has received from teen readers of Speak. This edgy YA novel is about an incoming freshman, raped at an end of the summer party, who is so traumatized by the rape and by being ostracizing by the other students, that she does not talk until circumstances force her to speak out.

The other picture is of the autograph on Katie's copy of Twisted http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Twisted/Laurie-Halse-Anderson/e/9780142411841/?itm=5 I totally agree - librarians are angels. :-) This YA novel about Kyle, a teen who is just a body in the mass of teens in his high school - a social nobody. That is, until he is caught spray painting graffiti on the walls of the school. After a summer in the sun doing community service, getting tanned and buff, he becomes the bad boy the girls find irresistible, including the daughter of his father's boss. Getting involved with her is a bad idea and when half clothed photographs of her end up on the Internet everyone assumes Kyle is the one who posted them. Kyle would like to go back to being the invisible one in the high school social scene but it is too late now.

I wish Spring would decide to stay instead of making short visits and then leaving us with winter weather. Poor Sophie - she is now a short haired cat, but the vet left her with a long ruff around her neck and her tail long. I think she looks cute, but she is quite mortified. Downside of getting rid of her mass of shedding fur - she is more susceptible to this cold weather. I left her out once and she started sneezing and had a runny nose. She is still quite irritated with me about both the new "do" and not being able to go outside. If it would warm up I'd let her out but BRRRR!! If we get the house sold and move to the Miami area she will be a happy kitty again, chasing geckos like she did in the islands.

I hope it warms up this weekend as Steve's older brother and wife arrive for a short visit and, of course, we are headed to the horse races at Keeneland. I did great on opening day - well, for the first 5 races, then Steve told the guy behind the betting window that I was going to lose the next race. He jinxed me - not only did I lose that race, I lost every single one from there on out. Good thing I only do $2 bets. Hopefully we'll have better luck this weekend. I have picked my favorite jockey Kent Desormeaux. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Desormeaux I learned the hard way not to bet against a horse he is racing. He's good! I just hope I don't have to be bundled up in my winter coat, two sweaters, a hat, scarf, gloves, etc. as I was on opening day of the races.

Speaking of bundled up, I laughed out loud at the picture of bundled up children building an ice sculpture dog in Alta Norway in 2001 in Ayana Lowe's Come and Play: Children of Our World Having Fun http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Come-and-Play/Ayana-Lowe/e/9781599902463/?itm=1 . The child who picked this picture to write about in Lowe's multicultural class named the "word riff," (what Lowe calls the short poems that accompany pictures of children at play around the world) Blue Night. I felt like a knew these kids, all bundled up and wearing fur hats - hats I had seen kids my own age wearing while growing up in Upper Michigan as well as on kids playing with my own children in Alaska. What photograph will you connect with?

April is poetry month (you can find cool things do with your students at: http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41) and this collection of short poems written by children in response to photographs of children at play around the world is a great place to start celebrating poetry month. Share this cool book of photographs and poetry with children and adults alike. The photographs are from the Magnum Photos collection. Check it out at http://www.magnumphotos.com/. Oh could I spend a lot of time just exploring this site. The main page currently has a photograph slide show of various photographs depicting springtime. Come and Play is a visual feast that both children and adults will devour over and over again as they "spy" on children at play. What "word riff" would I write about the little Norwegian kids - hmmmm - something to think about. Perhaps I'll write a "word riff" or two of my own to celebrate poetry month.

Well, the for sale sign is up in the front yard. The new realty company, a couple who work together, were here to take pics and for us to sign papers. One step closer to our move to Florida. With today being one of my worse fibro days in a long time the warm moist weather of southern Florida sounds better and better. Even though I could barely move this morning I got up and helped Steve pick up and clean. By the time they left I was shivering with the chills. My darling Steve went and got us our regular Steak & Shake burgers and brought them home and ate lunch with me while I sat in my fuzzy winter bathrobe. He went off to the gym and I took a nap. It's going to be a do a bit of work from bed and nap when needed kind of day. I've been really pushing myself since the surgery in February - I should know better but no one but me knows what to do with my books and I brought home a car full when I moved out of my ECU office. So, as I sit here trying to join the world of the totally awake, I'm watching one of my favorite movies - The Last of the Dogmen with Barbara Hershey and Tom Berenger. Good description of it at: http://www.classicdvds4less.com/ProductInfo.aspx?ID=136 Puts Dances with Wolves to shame for wonderful Indian adventure movies and one of Berenger's best.

My YA book for today is Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Jumped/Rita-Williams-garcia/e/9780060760915/?itm=1 It is not my favorite of hers - that would be Every Time a Rainbow Dies http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Every-Time-a-Rainbow-Dies/Rita-Williams-Garcia/e/9780064473033/?itm=1 in which quiet sixteen-year-old Thulani, whose mother has died and is not living up to his older brother's expectations, comes to the rescue of a young woman who is raped and left battered in an alley but she berates him rather than being thankful. Thulani is fascinated by her reaction and works his way into her life. This is a beautiful, edgy and sometimes harsh urban novel for older teens. It is not one you will forget. Jumped is also set in an urban environment, but addresses the brutality of girl on girl violence. The central figures are three high school girls - a basketball player with an attitude, an artistic pretty girl who thinks the world's, at least all the boys', eyes are on her, and Leticia who spends more time telling her friend on the phone about what is happening around her than living her own life, including doing the right thing. When ditsy Trina gets in the way of angry Dominque, who has been kicked off the team for bad grades, Leticia hears Dominque brag to her friends that Trina is going to get tromped after school. Even with her friend on the phone begging her to tell the school security guard what she heard, Leticia doesn't. She just watches and Trina pays the price. It's much easier not to get involved, but can you live with the results of not standing up for an innocent who has no idea she is about to get jumped? Williams-Garcia raises many questions in this edgy YA novel of the harshness of the urban high school environment from the perspective of three distinctly African American teenage girls.

Remember the optical illusion that when you first look at it what appears are facial profiles but upon another look - it is a vase? In a similar vein, Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld offer up a visual delight with a touch of humor in Duck! Rabbit http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Duck-Rabbit/Amy-Krouse-Rosenthal/e/9780811868655/?itm=1 While doing a school visit together Lichtenheld drew the duckrabbit figure and the kids loved it. So did Rosenthal and she insisted it could be the basis for a book. Sure enough, the simple but irresistible picture of what looks like a rabbit with ears laid back or a duck with an open bill that the illustrator had seen in a college course called Zen and Freud and stayed with him since is now an absolutely addictive children's (well, all ages as I am certainly not a child, though my inner child is very alive and well) picture books. How fun read and discuss whether the illustrations are of a is a duck opening his bill to eat a piece of bread, quacking, wading through the swamp, flying, getting a drink etc. or a rabbit eating a carrot, sniffing at something, hiding in the grass, or hopping away. And of course, they leave you with yet another illustration open for discussion as to what it is - a dinosaur or an anteater - or perhaps you see something else altogether. Such a simple, but absolutely incredible visual feast to behold and visit over and over again, no matte what your age. But, I can't wait to read this one with the grandkids.

Okay - I think I am clear headed enough to do some grading! I don't wish fibro fog on anyone - gets totally in the way of concentration and I've even typed words that have no connection whatsoever to what I was thinking, so clearly the fingers and the brain do not always work in conjunction of a bad fibro day!

The trees in our yard don't realize just how cold and nasty it is. Spring hasn't quite sprung for us yet but our little plum tree, really more like a scrub at this point, is glorious in its pink blooms and the lilacs bushes are sprouting leaves. Can't wait until they bloom - lilacs mean home. Picking lilacs with my dad was an annual event when I was a little girl - I can close my eyes and smell them. My father and I didn't have a very good relationship, well pretty much no relationship, after my mom died. But, as a little girl I thought the world revolved around him - at least mine did. For years purple was my favorite color, and it still is to a degree - but now it is deep purplish blue as the color blue has become an integral part of my life. I am becoming my mother without even trying and I am proud to see myself resembling the incredible woman my mom was - even down to her forgetfulness. Just about every place mat I have bought for both the dining room and kitchen table are shades of blue and I wake up every morning to Georgia O'Keefe's 1925 Petunia that looks like it has blueberries in the center. http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Petunia-1925-Posters_i290791_.htm I didn't notice the resemblance to blueberries until very recently but it makes me smile as I think of mom busy picking wild blueberries.


But, lilacs will not bloom in Florida - they need a cold freeze to bloom. But, there are lilacs that bloom in Texas, Denton to be exact. White Lilacs, written by Carolyn Meyer in the mid 90's http://search.barnesandnoble.com/White-Lilacs/Carolyn-Meyer/e/9780152058517/?itm=1i s a poignant YA novels for tweens about the prejudice of a small Texas town - comparing the life of young Rose Lee who lives in the all African American Freedomtown until the white folks run them out and create a park for the young women of Texas Woman's University - not called that yet in the 1920's. Yes, I remember this book in part because of the symbolism of the lilac blooming even in the worst of times, but also because I went to school at TWU. It is still in print, which says a lot about the quality and appeal of the novel.

Why did I mention lilacs won't bloom in Florida? We will be moving to FL if/when our home here in Lexington sells. We are in no hurry so I will surely get to see our lilacs bloom this summer. That's why we drove to the Miami area during Spring Break - to get some idea where we'd like to live. I can say it certainly will not be Miami proper. I thought the drivers in Dallas were nuts - they are old ladies in Buicks compared to the drivers on I95 in Miami. I laughed out loud at the below term from Urban Dictionary. Let's just say I wore the "passenger brake" out in the car! We will be looking a bit farther north or south where doing 75 mph isn't considered standing still.

March 26: Passenger Brake
The passenger brake is the nonexistent brake pedal located on the floor of the passenger (shotgun) side of the front seat of your car. It is used instinctively by the passenger when the driver is driving insanely too fast, and the car needs to come quickly to a stop, which may not seem very possible at that particular moment. It is sometimes used in conjunction with the OH SHIT handle by the passenger door.
Doris was using her passenger brake all the freaking way here. She's the one who made us late getting started from home by taking so long to get herself ready! I was just trying to make up some time getting through traffic...

My YA book for today is Lara M. Zeises' The Sweet Life of Stella Madison, http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=sweet+life+of+stella+madison a Delacorte title that will come out in July. Lara calls herself a foodie and her love of food is very evident in this delightful YA novel about the daughter of foodie parents have been separated for years, but are still very close. Stella's mother is the grounded one with the business sense whereas her father is the chef who closes his own restaurant down for a period each year to travel throughout Europe to savor new foods, but mostly new wines. Stella has worked at her mother's restaurant, the Open Kitchen, where guest chefs are "on stage" to cook for a loyal following as well as new converts. Stella is content in her relationship with boyfriend - sweet Max. That is until her mother hires a new intern who looks as good as he cooks! Stella's crush on Jeremy and his flirtatious behavior toward her is not helping matters any. Exactly how far do you have to go to consider it cheating on your boyfriend? Does taking Jeremy to dinner at your father's restaurant count? Does thinking about him way too much count? Does wanting him to kiss you count? Stella's BFF's tell her to get a grip, but Stella's hormones are not making it easy. To further complicate her life, Stella is offered a summer newspaper internship and her own column, The Sweet Life of Stella Madison, in which she writes about food, mostly as a restaurant critic. Stella is not a foodie like her parents - she'd just as soon stop at Burger King. But, with some help from the gorgeous Jeremy, Stella realizes she is not so unlike her parents. Many of the chapters begin with the evening menu at the Open Kitchen, which I am sure will make many readers' mouths water. I hate to admit it, but I skipped them after the first one - like reading a foreign language to me. Foodie I am not - hard to be when you don't' eat any diary and have recently also added soy to the "no-no" list. However, this non-foodie loves Stella and her antics at the Open Kitchen as well as dealing with two guys and two best friends and parents who may be falling in love, but not with each other. A delicious read to say the least!

I'll be teaching an Early Childhood Materials course this summer so I have been reading lots of board books and other fun books for little ones. The Bedtime Train by Joy Cowley, illustrated by Jamison Odone. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Bedtime-Train/Joy-Cowley/e/9781590784938/?itm=1 stands out, not only for it's large size, but for its beauty. However, be careful using it with little ones prone to nightmares as there are growling bears, dinosaurs and alligators galore as a little boy and Brad, the train engineer who looks a lot like Dad, go on a rhyming night time ride. The illustrations compliment the text beautifully and are in muted colors so that even the growling bears are not so scary - especially when the little boy sits on the edge of his bed and sticks his tongue out at them. :-) With the wolves and cold, it reminds me a bit of The Polar Express by Van Allsburg http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Polar-Express/Chris-Van-Allsburg/e/9780395389492/?itm=1 but this has no holiday theme. The illustrations, especially the little boy, remind me more of Sendak's In the Night Kitchen http://search.barnesandnoble.com/In-the-Night-Kitchen/Maurice-Sendak/e/9780064434362/?itm=1 with their dream like feel. And anyone who has read my blog knows this is an all time favorite of mine. Although some of the creatures are a bit creepy, this is the perfect storybook for the little boys who love trains. They'll be joining in on the "Chugga-chugga, toot-toot. Chugga-chugga, toot-toot." refrain. The illustrations are rich in detail and little ones will find new details each time their parents (especially dads) are asked to read it again and again. It doesn't have to bedtime to share this delightful book about a little boy and his ingenious ways to save the day, or I should say night, with gumballs. :-) Cowley has been awarded the New Zealand Commemorative Medal for her service to children's literature. This Front Street publication of what started out as a story in Highlights magazine comes alive through Odone's incredible art. There are pages I'd love proofs of to frame and put on my wall.

Okay, on the not so fun stuff - grading.