I am so excited - I have the morning news on my new TV! I wanted to stay up last night and watch a movie but I was just too tired and wanted to lay in bed and read. And I can't be a night owl tonight either as I have to be up and at ECU early tomorrow morning to drive out to Washington for a meeting. Washington is on the water do I can get a bit of an ocean fix. :-)

A dreary day here, but that is fine with me. It has been so darn hot. I am looking forward to autumn, whenever it comes here in Eastern NC. Am headed out of here shortly to attend a workshop on the new version of Blackboard, the online software we use for the courses. Hard to believe Fall courses start next Weds. Where did summer go? To teaching two sections of Children's and YA Literature is where it went for me! I will have to leave a bit early as I got lost on campus Monday when I was trying to find a building. Maps don't help me a whole lot as I have no sense of direction!

For those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile know that I am a lover of the edgy YA novel for older teens. A Room on Lorelei Street is still my favorite. Adam Rapp's 33 Snowfish will not replace it, although it is the most edgy out there YA novel I have read. It is so dark and raw that it is difficult to keep reading, but you do because you need something good to happen to at least one of the characters in this book about runaways/throwaways. Custis is the main character in a trio that includes Curl, a teenage prostitute, and Boobie, a stoic 17 year old who has killed his parents. After the murders, the three run in Boobie's family Skylark, spray painted black to avoid detection. Although the he is the youngest, Custis is the most lucid but that isn't saying much as he has migraine type headaches that cause him to wake up in a new location, with no idea how he got there. The horrific life experiences these young people endure are heart breaking and at times stretch the reader's sense of belief to the very limit. Mine stretched and broke. This book deserves a place in every YA collection, but personally I was not enthralled with it. Many YA specialists are - they love both the book and Adam Rapp. Even though I am not crazy about this book, I think anyone who works with teens and their literature should read it.

Time to go. I love my 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe! It drives like a dream and corners tighter than the RAV4. I also love the 18" wheels, which put me sitting up higher. And to think that I am the one who used to love to drive a Trans Am that sat so low my butt almost hit the pavement! :-)