Another week is upon us. Where has this summer gone? Just got a reminder that I will be leading a book discussion group for Graham McNamee's Acceleration later this month at Tate's Creek HS here in Lexington. Their librarians are really proactive and a fun group of ladies to work with. Can't wait to meet some of the teens. I have to put a group of discussion questions together for our group time and I can't help but wonder if any of the other readers screamed at Duncan, "This is no stereotypical horror movie, don't go down those stairs!" Don't you just hate it when you are watching a suspenseful movie, especially teen horror movies, and the character walks right into what is certain terror or death? Me - I'm a wimp. Unless I had to go in there to get a loved one, there is no way I'd go down those cellar stairs!

Really wish McNamee's Hate You, written in 2000, would come back in print. Seventeen year old Alice has been writing songs that no one, even she, can sing. Stepping in between her father and mother when he was strangling her, 10-year-old Alice took the brunt of his anger instead and has badly damaged vocal chords. Her hate for him has simmered all these years and has been written down in her songs. So how is she supposed to deal with a request to visit him now that he is dying of cancer?

Been reading the textbook I chose for my Materials for Young Adults course this semester and though I really like how easy it is to read and how accessible the lists of books are I am really disappointed in the definition of young adults as ages 11 through 18. So, a majority of the titles in the bibliographies are for tweens, not teens. It will work for the basics, but I need to rethink my textbook choice for Fall 2008. I am at the point where I would like to just write my own Materials for Older Young Adults textbook and be done with it. I guess if I had 48 hours in the day I might be able to do that. Oh well, enough complaining about that - it won't get my course online any quicker. Classes start already the 22nd! That is only 16 days away.

But, on the positive side, my darling husband left the reservations for our trip to Branson for Labor Day weekend on my computer to find this a.m. Friday through Monday. I am not even going to take my laptop or cell phone with me! :-) Need to start looking at who is playing during that time period. Steve doesn't want to go the Kentucky State Fair where all kinds of great country bands are playing including Rascal Flats. Oh well, I'll live, since I am not crazy about big crowds either.

On to working on classes until I get the sheer pleasure of a massage at 3:00 and then the chiropractor. I set my laptop on top of two reams of paper to put it up higher on my desk so that I am not looking down so much, which is killing my neck. I ordered a new L-shaped desk from Staples last night and Steve said he would get a nice big monitor for me when the desk comes in. :-) Not sure he is thinking about the fact that he is going to have to put this desk together.