Read through the articles online this a.m. about Louisiana and Mississippi. Last night I sat there in tears as I watched the news. Such devastation and so many people homeless. This is such a poor part of the country to begin with - so many of the residents do not have the financial means to leave even if they could. As a country we will be feeling the affects of Katrina for years to come. I feel guilty for sitting here in air conditioned comfort looking out over the beautiful blue Caribbean and realizing what impact the warm waters of the ocean can have on the strength of a storm.

Took a break from a YA novel and read the Mary Higgins Clark mystery I picked up at Dockside's book sale last month. The Second Time Around is a fun read about a Wall Street Weekly reporter who is writing a story about the fatal airplane crash of a Nick Spencer, the charismatic son of a microbiologist who has developed a vaccine to cure cancer. The patients Nick injected with the vaccine have gone into remission but someone doesn't want the company to get FDA approval for the vaccine so the later test results have been altered. Carley, the reporter, is the stepsister of the ice queen 2nd wife of the dead man who knows more about his death than her bereaved widow persona suggests. In other words - a fun beach read - too bad I didn't read it at the beach!

Read a cute nonfiction picture book - Saving the Liberty Bell by Megan McDonald - about how the liberty bell, then known as the Great Bell, was secreted out of Philadelphia so that the British could not melt it down for ammunition. The rumors were spread that the city's bells were sunk in the harbor when in reality they were moved out into various small town and hid. The story of how John Jacob Mickley and his father carried the Liberty Bell in their wagon, covered with dung and straw (and rumor says, a petticoat), is a fun way to introduce a discussion of the bell or the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The Historical Note at the end gives more information to share with students. I liked the story but am not as crazy about the illustrations - the petticoat is a bit much! I don't think petticoats were that gaudy back then. :-)