Wow! I had no idea it had been so long since I posted last. I am so sorry! I think I need to just start doing short posts when I think about them rather than taking the time to do the long posts I normally do. Between moving to Florida, a wild Fall semester, and then being quite ill in the last few months, I've barely kept my head above water with the basics. Some days even those don't get done!

The good news is I am finally getting settled in with new doctors down here in Florida who I really like and had my first set of occipital nerve blocks last Friday. You know those occasional headaches that are so bad they make you sick to your stomach? Well, I had one of those 24/7 since September since I had my last nerve block in August before we moved from Lexington. Now the headache is just thudding away and that I can handle. The doc was optimistic that he can give me more long term relief and that was the news I needed to hear.

This morning I'm busy working on getting course docs up for my YA Lit course starting on Friday. Anyway, I was checking links in course docs to make sure they are still live and found a pleasant surprise on The Shambles web site - someone had posted a link to me booktalking at one of the workshops we had for our COLRS grant students: http://www.shambles.net/pages/staff/booktalk/ I didn't post it, but I am glad it is out there even though most of us hate to see ourselves on camera. I had the mic clipped to my pocket and it made it difficult for me as I don't normally stand just in front of the room while I booktalk but my YA Lit students are required to present a 6-book booktalking session to high school age teens and find the video useful in preparing, especially my students who have never worked with teens before.

Due to the headache, I've not done as much reading as normal but did enjoy a new fantasy that is going to be a hit. John Stephens' The Emerald Atlas
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Emerald-Atlas/John-Stephens/e/9780375868702/?itm=1&USRI=emerald+atlas+stephens is the first in a trilogy about three siblings who are the key to three books of magic that the wizards of old hid so that no one could have the power bringing them together could create. Fourteen-year-old Kate has been trying to protect her younger brother and sister for the the last 10 years since their parents disappeared as they are shuttled from one nasty orphanage to another. When they arrive at a mysterious dilapidated old house, they find the first of the books and discover their ability to travel through time via this Emerald Atlas. A high-spirited battle of good against evil with the siblings in the middle of it all. Kate is one feisty young teen and her little sister Emma is right there behind her. The bookish dwarf-obsessed Michael is also a delight. His love of reading, with specticles sliding down his nose, brought back memories of young Mic's oversides glasses, visible above the latest book he was happily lost in. We make such a personal connection with each book we read; or at least I do. This is a fantasy romp Mic would have devoured. Watch for my review at a later date in Library Media Connection.



Back to course docs. My 2011 resolution is to do short blog postings regularly. Let's see if I can keep it up!