We are such creatures of habit. Once I hear Steve and Sophie moving about in the a.m. my body says it is time to get up. Well, when it is shortly after 6 a.m. I am not too keen on this, but I can't fall back to sleep so I got up and read for a bit. Steve crawled back into bed and he'll fall back asleep quickly (the bum!). He has his cardiologist appt. this morning. I am going with him so I can hear the test results. Steve is so macho he waited an hour before he actually told me he was having a tightness in his chest that wasn't normal. It was almost an hour before that he had asked me when I'd be done with what I was doing. I somewhat sarcastically responded that I was grading and it would be literally days, but, in a kinder voice (I hope!) asked what he needed. He said nothing, of course. I knew something wasn't right, but it took close to an hour before he admitted what was going on. He said let's give it five more minutes. I told him no and to get in the car! Thank goodness the hospital is less than 1o minutes from the house. He was in the hospital over night and most of the next day before he finally was released. I can't help but think it was some type of infection/virus that got into his heart as he was running a fever a couple of day before and after he got home. I changed the sheets twice one of the nights as he soaked through a t-shirt, sheets and mattress pad. If the doc didn't do testing on that I am going to insist he does as it could be serious.

Since I was up at 6 a.m. I finished The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Poitier. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Measure-of-a-Man/Sidney-Poitier/e/9780061357909/?itm=1 I love his movies To Sir With Love and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night. I respect him as one of the great actors who has not gotten the attention he deserved. He writes about what it was like to be a star in the 50s and 60s yet not be able to walk in the front door of many hotels and restaurants. He shares a bit about his life as a child on Cay Island in the Bahamas where he ran around in burlap clothes and had no idea there was a different way of life. He has certainly come a long way - via Nassau, Miami, and New York. He could call the greats of Harlem his friends. He rambles a lot - it is after all, a spiritual autobiography written in his 70s after he survived prostate cancer, but I didn't see a man who grew as a father or a husband. He rarely wrote about his children and basically never about his wives. I don't think we can write a spiritual autobiography and not address our own nuclear family. He wrote extensively about his father, who he clearly respected greatly, and his quiet mother ,who rarely spoke, but he has at least 4 children and there is probably less than two pages total about them. So, I was disappointed in the book. A year later he wrote Life Beyond Measure: Letters to my Granddaughter http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Life-Beyond-Measure/Sidney-Poitier/e/9780641983726/?itm=2 Perhaps that is the book I should have read. Will see if I can find a copy of this is Half Price books. Hmmm. I think I'd rather listen to it as I love his voice.

I am still reading new YA author's debut novels. Julie Berry's The Amaranthe Enchantment http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Amaranth-Enchantment/Julie-Berry/e/9781599903347/?itm=1 is one my latest reads. As do many of the new YA authors, she has a MFA in writing for children and young adults. This is a Cinderella story about 15-year-old Lucinda whose wealthy parents are killed in a carriage accident when she is young. She becomes the ward of her uncle and aunt who own a jewelry repair shop were he ekes out a living. Her aunt does not hide the fact that Lucinda is a burden and makes her do all of the cleaning and may well ask her to scrub a floor over that she had just finished scrubbing. Everything in Lucinda's life changes whens the Amaranthe Witch entered the repair shop with a huge, unique jewel that she wants reset so she can wear it around her neck. When her aunt discovers who brought the jewel in for repair she said they will not do business with a witch and Lucinda is to return it to her. Well, Lucinda doesn't quite do that and it is stolen by the young thief who boldly enters her bed chamber that night and sleeps on her floor. Their lives become intertwined and she finds herself dancing with the Prince at an outdoor fair. She is quite bold in her approach to him as the thief has stolen the jewel from her room and sold it to the Prince to give to his new bride. She steals it from his pocket. Lucinda has fallen in love with the Prince and knows he is out of her league, but one's heart doesn't know when we shouldn't fall in love. The tale takes many twists and turns with Lucinda taken to prison to be hung in the morning for stealing the jewel from the prince, but her aunt, who is the one who "fingers" her as the thief, then bribes the jailer to free her. The Amaranthe Witch plays the role of fairy godmother, but she is from another world and the jewel is what will allow her to journey home. As all good fairy tales, and retellings, do - Lucinda lives happily ever after. And, of course, there is more to the young thief than meets the eye. Give this one to MS through HS girls who like to read fantasy romances. It is a delight fairy tale romp with a "intergalactic twist."

My students, along with introducing themselves, they also address the first book they remember reading or being read to them. Many of them are the old I Can Read or Dr. Seuss books. These all have a unique feel to them due to the limited use of color, often red, green, and blue, and the controlled vocabulary. A new title, that has that old "feel,"to add to the Early Reader group is Hat by Paul Hoppe. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Hat/Paul-Hoppe/e/9781599902487/?itm=1 The cover immediately grabbed my attention as it is a simple drawing of a boy wearing a huge red hat that covers his eyes, but not the the satisfied grin on his face as he stands nonchalantly with his arms crossed. Young Henry finds a large brimmed red hat sitting on a park bench and the adventure begins. We see Henry laying spread eagle on a beach towel with Hat covering him almost down to his belly button. Hat keeps off the rain; it's great for catching mice, for hiding a rabbit - he is a very smug magician. It even becomes a sailboat and sled racing through the snow. Henry's imagination and Hat can even make Henry a superstar. But, imaginary adventures must come to an end when Mom reminds him that someone else may need the hat. Off his imagination goes again and he see a smug crocodile with the outline of a head poking out of him, because the adventurer didn't have Hat to shove in the croc's open mouth, a terrified grandma whose kitchen has been taken over by mice, and a sweating, sunburned lifeguard. Henry knows it is time to lay Hat back down on the bench and head for home with Mom. I absolutely love this book! The illustrations are of a minimalist style but throb with emotion and fun. A delightful book to share with your little and let him/her go on adventures with Henry and learn they can read this one on their own. What could you do with a hat the size of an umbrella? :-)

Time to get ready to head to the doc's with Steve.