Isn't she gorgeous? Our granddaughter McKinley Elizabeth Quade was born Sunday, February 24, 2008 at 12:43 a.m. 7 lbs. 3 oz. My daughter Mary and baby are doing fine. Due to my health I wasn't able to travel to Green Bay for her birth, but hope to get up there soon. Grandsons are adjusting to a little sister as well as can be expected. The year old is majorly jealous, but that's to be expected.

I have been awful about keeping up with the blog. Between doctor's appointments and my "lay down times" I have had to put my courses and students first and not much else gets done. I saw a new neurologist as the cervical spine procedure did not have the results we had hoped for and the pain can be worse now than before. His diagnosis is fibromyalgia, which has been supported by my GP, so I am waiting to get in to a rheumatologist for a diagnosis confirmation and to start on a treatment plan of some type. But, at least the Requip the neurologist prescribed for restless leg syndrome (goes along with fibromyalgia) is helping me sleep so the fatigue isn't quite as bad. "Downside" to it is I am turning into a morning person - heaven forbid! The rain woke me up at 5:00 this a.m. but I am normally up and about before Steve leaves for work. I won't mention the mini-naps I end up taking during the day though! Been reading about fibromyalgia online so I am not quite so freaked out about it, but it sure explains the "migrating" pain and fatigue I have had since 2002. More than a bit irritating that it has taken this long, and a surgery that was not needed, to get what appears to be a correct diagnosis.

Steve has been wonderful about taking care of me and for Spring break we are headed to the islands. We leave for Barbados early tomorrow morning. Three days there and the rest of the vacation on Tobago. He has decided I need a true non-working vacation (first one since the 90s) and I am leaving behind the laptop and the cell phone. I am sure I will have laptop withdrawal something terrible so we are taking a travel Scrabble board, cards, and lots of books. I may even print off some easy crossword puzzles for myself. I am terrible at them, but they are fun. So while he golfs in the a.m. I plan on reading in bed and then moving on to reading under a palm tree. Have Elizabeth Peters, Christine Feehan, Jude Devereaux, and Fern Michaels paperbacks in my luggage. No work related reading either. :-)

I did, however, just finish an absolutely beautifully written YA novel by Kathe Koja - Kissing the Bee. I grabbed if off my "to read" shelf on my way out the door to yet another doctor's appointment because it was thin and easy to carry. It may be only 121 pages long, but oh what a wondrous 121 pages - fascinating bee facts and lore (for her science project) interwoven into seventeen-year-old Dana's life. She is the female worker bee, her self centered friend Avra the queen bee, and Emil, Avra's boyfriend whom Dana is in love with, fears his love for Avra may indeed be the death of him as it is for a male bee. What elaborate steps both Emil and Dana take to dance around Avra as they try to avoid her venomous verbal stings. But Emil and Dana's solo trip to an apiary (bee farm) changes the dynamics of the human hive and the queen bee may have neither bee dancing for her. Display this one cover out - gorgeous gold tone illustration of a girl's face, eyes closed, with a bee about to land on her nose. Koja also wrote Buddha Boy, Going Under, and The Blue Mirror. Buddha Boy is one of my all time favorite YA novels.

That's it for today.

We finally have heat again! We don't have a furnace, we have a heat pump, and it has gone out twice in the last month. Of course it does this on the coldest days. Yesterday was 3 degrees with the wind chill factor. The freezing rain made the driveway so slick Steve had to take a running start to get up it with his car. I was bundled up in a jacket and electric blanket. Our gas fireplace is pretty good at heating up the living room.

I am in the middle of getting annual review documents together for the university, but needed to take a break and write about a book. The Scarlet Stockings: The Enchanted Riddle by Charlotte Kandel is sitting next to me on my desk. What an absolutely gorgeous cover with a cameo style picture of a girl in a ballet pose. However, since the riddle has to do with magic red silk stockings, I wish the girl's stockings were red instead of pale pink on the cover, but I'll let it go. After all, the stockings do change color to match whatever Charlotte has on so no one knows she is wearing stockings that will help her become a prima ballerina. Too bad they also bring out the selfish and arrogant side of her personality as well, making her forget the love of her newly adoptive family and friends in a small neighborhood in London. Although set in the 1920s, this book is timeless for girls who love to dance and want to learn more about ballet - a magical art form in itself - while wrapped in a delightful mystery. Every little girl who loves to pretend she is a ballerina will want her mother to read this book to her. And, every older (upper elementary/MS) girl who is taking ballet lessons will relate to the hard work that thirteen-year-old Charlotte puts into her dancing - the bloody feet and all. They will applaud when she works hard and gets choice parts and gasp when the stockings cause her to turn nasty and mean to those who love and support her. Will she find out who left her the stockings and the ballet book with the riddle written inside? Will she ever be able to solve it? Could it be from her mother who left her at the orphanage?

That's all for today - have too much to get done to just "chat".

Another Monday has come and almost gone. I was awake at 6:30 a.m. due to a very loud dishwasher. Steve almost never starts the dishwasher so why he did this morning is beyond me, but it is not one of those quiet ones you see in the commercial on TV where the baby is asleep in the playpen in the kitchen. It sounds more like a water monster is attacking the kitchen.

So as I was wandering my way into my office, much too early in the morning, with a can of Diet Coke, I caught the sight of "yack" out of the corner of my eye and just kept from squishing my wonderful sneaker slipper into a pile of food lovely Sophie had "yacked" up. While I was muttering under my breath and heading for the paper towels I barely missed another offering from the cat - NOT-goddess. So that meant I had to wash throw carpets today. Sophie has been keeping clear of me – for good reason, Mommy is not a morning person! I honestly don't think the gifts were for me as Steve put her noisy butt out this morning instead of listening to her meow, so I suspect her offerings were more for him than me. Besides, I'm never up at that time of the morning so they couldn't be for me!

Spent a good portion of the day reading through discussion postings from my students on what they learned about magazine availability for children and teens in school and public libraries vs. the bookstores. Most of them were very surprised at the poor selection in the libraries and the large number of magazines for teenage girls, with basically none for guys, in the bookstores. I shake my head over this every semester as I hear the same thing - students don't read magazines in the library and there is no money for them. Well, if you bought the ones they want to read, they would read them, and they wouldn't be a waste of money. A majority of the magazines in many high school libraries are for adults. How many teenagers read Redbook or Woman's Day? I was delighted to read that some of the public libraries and a few schools had great titles for guys on surfing, skateboarding, gaming, etc. Survey after survey done with teens indicate that their number one choice of leisure reading materials is magazines and yet we can't seem to find the rationale for having other than curriculum related periodicals in the library? How about reading, no matter what the format, results in better readers, and, heaven forbid, they might even perform better on those nasty standardized tests!

Speaking of standardized tests, William Sleator's newest novel, Test, addresses these tests and their impact on a society where passing the test means you get out of the traffic. If you don't pass the test you can't go to college and you are stuck in menial jobs the rest of your life and spend hours sitting in the congested traffic. If you walk to school to get there faster, as Ann does, you have to wear a face mask because of the pollution. Ann is good at math but she can't seem to get a high enough score on the sample tests in English to move her forward in the classroom - smart kids sit at the front. All teens in this public high school fear not passing the test, but that is nothing compared to the teachers’ fear as their jobs depend on their students passing the test. In Ann's English class Lep, a Thai student, suddenly starts making his way closer to the front, at a rate much faster than he should be able to. Ann discovers how he is able to do so and it isn't a pretty story, but he will do just about anything to pass the test. Ann and Lep become friends and they work against the system to expose the corrupt publisher who furnishes the tests to the government. There is no subtlety in how Sleator goes about making his point as to how poorly teaching to the test prepares students for real life. He hammers it home. This book isn't going to change the way things are done in relation to standardized testing in our schools, but clearly it was cathartic for Sleator, and perhaps for his teacher friend who shared her concerns with him. It can also be cathartic for those teachers and students caught up in the testing mess. At least they can vicariously fight back through Ann and Lep.

I hear the garage door opening and need to remind Steve to take the trash out. All for today.

It is a winter wonderland outside. The snow is swirling in the breeze and coating everything in white, even the roads. I love this weather as long as I don't have to go out in it. Yesterday morning was even prettier as we had an ice storm Monday night and the trees were glazed and dripping icicles. It warmed mid-day and the roads turned to slush but it froze again last night so I am sure there is a sheet of ice under the snow. A few cars have gone by but not many - mostly trucks and SUVs. It is in the high teens today so the snow won't melt soon. It is supposed to get up to 45 degrees tomorrow and I hope so as I have another doctor's appointment and this one is across town. I am seeing yet another neurologist, but this doc is at a sleep clinic. Sleep has been eluding me and I suspect that is part of the extreme fatigue. I am also beating up poor Steve in my sleep with my muscle spasms. I would say serves him right for keeping me up with his snoring, but getting wonked in the head in the middle of the night can't be fun. Guess I also had a death grip on his arm the other night. And here I thought I wasn't sleeping at all!

I am pretty bummed out with the lack of pain relief and fatigue after the surgery almost a month ago now. The doc says I have to give it another 4-6 weeks of recovery time. So I had to cancel my trip to Greenville next week and my trip to Mary's for McKinley's birth. I wear myself out with minimal activity and still lack total balance. I have some pretty ugly bruises from knocking into things around here. Can't see myself hiking across the airports in Charlotte or Chicago carrying a laptop bag. Thanks goodness I work with wonderful people at ECU and I can attend meetings virtually until I get back on my feet. But, I sure miss them all. Let's just say I don't fall asleep in our faculty meetings as they are actually enjoyable! :-)

Since I still am laying down a number of times a day to give my neck a rest I am listening to audiobooks. Finished Pirates! by Celia Rees, which I absolutely loved. The female narrator did a wonderful job with the Jamaican accents - the one thing I miss from the islands is the lilt of so many of the accents. Like music, but often I couldn't understand a word they were saying. The idea of a teenage daughter of a plantation owner choosing life as a pirate over marrying the wicked Brazilian pirate/plantation owner her father and brothers promised her to makes for a good story. Two female pirates, one white and one black, who can strut like dandies in their pirate garb made me smile.

I just started listening to Terry Brooks The Black Unicorn. I loved the first book in the Magic Kingdom of Landover series, Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! Only the fear of losing himself in the grief over the death of his wife and unborn child could cause a level headed attorney to spend a million dollars to rule a fantasy kingdom. Ben Holiday does, but the transition is not easily, and not without a battle. There are a number of other titles in the series and through the years I have read most, but not The Black Unicorn. It has been years since I visited Landover so it is like going home to a fantasy world I love. Ben has to return to his old world to discover if his dream is truly a premonition and his old partner is in danger. Willow, the green beauty who stands by his side, except when she becomes a tree, is on her own quest - to bridle the black unicorn. The court wizard is intent on finding the lost books of magic. And Abernathy, the man turned into a dog, is not happy about any of it – but that is his nature! I am yet again hooked! :-) Although these titles are published for the adult reader and the characters are adults, teens who love fantasy will enjoy these books, as Ben acts very much like a teenager who is finding his place in this new world.

Okay - my "true" YA reading title. Sadly, I was not as enthralled with this latest MS/JH level novel, Missing Girl by Norma Fox Mazer as I am with Brooks fantasy. And, that is unusual as I typically love her books. I think I have written about at least a couple others by her in this blog. How could I not pick up the ARC with "DON'T EVER TALK TO STRANGERS." Yes, it is a novel about a pedophile abducting a child, but even the chapters from his perspective did not hold me in suspense. A group of five sisters, ages 11 to 17, walk to school together and he watches them, deciding which one he wants to abduct. The idea is for the reader to build a connection with the girls so that when something awful happens it feels real. Well, I never made that connection. Fancy is clearly a special needs teen and her chapters can make you cringe, laugh, cry, and feel proud of her, but the other girls are not “real” enough to feel the kind of fear I needed to for their safety. This is also one of those novels that I will not recommend to a reluctant or poor reader as each chapter is from a different perspective and it isn’t always easy to figure out from whose. Also, the 2nd person point of view is frequently employed, which can be disconcerting. I will not deny this is a very well written novel, but it is not one I can rave about.

That’s it for today. Back to book reviews.

I have just spent most of the last 4 hours creating a list of symptoms and the 7 different medications that the variety of doctors I have seen in the last 8 months have given me. I had my first of two follow up appointments today and it wasn't good news. Hope tomorrow goes better as we start going through blood tests. It is hard to feel positive when my body has refused to cooperate with me and let me actively enjoy my "old lady-hood". Even a trip to the mall doesn't delight me as I know how I will feel afterward. No happily trooping home with bags of goodies on sale! Steve would fall over backwards in disbelief to read the above! Okay, enough whining!

Had a chance to read through the nastiness on a few of the blogs that have gone gung ho against Card having received the Edwards Award. It always amazes me how people I would think to have open minded views of other people's values and beliefs because of the way they have been treated are worse than any of the hate-mongers I have seen from the ultra-conservative side. The name calling and hateful messages are horrible and they hardly send a message of an understanding of others' rights to their own beliefs and lifestyles.

Card rightfully deserved the Margaret A. Edwards Award for the Ender's books as they have become part of the cannon of young adult literature. Sure, they are "boy" books to the extreme, but I don't hear anyone name calling and asking for blood in relation to women who write chic lit for teens. Card is an incredible writer in relation to his SF for teens. As far as his ultra-conservative personal views and his writing for the adult readership with these same views - he has a right to those views. He was not honored for his adult writing and his value system is not in any way a criteria for this award.

But, I have to smile in the fact that the hate-mongers are shooting themselves in the foot with their vicious postings as the more they complain about Card and his books the more people are going to take a look at this author, the criteria for the award and many who never read the Enders books will now be purchasing them and reading them and sharing them with their kids. The nay-sayers to Card having won the award are acting like the censors that we fight so strongly against when they want to remove And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson from the library. I am disappointed in the very groups I normally stand firmly within and/or beside. If we expect to be accepted, we must learn to accept the right of those who have beliefs totally different from our own to express them.

After that I thought it quite appropriate to discuss a guy book - Fight Game by Kate Wild. This is her first novel and it got my attention as it focuses on a teenage Gypsy who has learned to live outside of the norm since his family moves from location to location in their travel trailer. The softness in his life is the love he has for his sister and his nieces. He would protect them at all costs and he ends up doing just that when two punks try to burn their trailer, with the girls in it. Freedom chases them down and it appears as if he has pushed one of them into the path of a bus. Was it murder? Doesn't much matter as he is a Gypsy and the only way Freedom is going to be able to survive is if he agrees to work with the undergroud police operation to infiltrate the vicious high-tech fight club where fighting goes on endlessly with new teens recruited to be killed in the Bear Pit. There always has to be a bit of romance in these guys' lives so enter Java Sparrow who has been watching the fight club complex for another reason. Two heads are usually better than one when it comes to getting into a high tech complex. Yes, this book is a bit on the violent side, but it one that many of the guys will pick up just because of the cool looking cover with the title tatooed on Freedom's fist, while he scowls at the potential reader. Hand this one to the guys who are into the war games. This is Wild's first book about Freedom and I look forward to reading the sequel which will come out in summer 2008. Scholastic does have a way or recruiting really good international YA authors and Wild is no exception.

All for today.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday. Although I watched a LMN mystery movie this morning while devouring the NY Times in bed, along with delicious French toast Steve made, I've been out in the living room watching pre-game show stuff with Steve along with finding the kitchen counters and doing laundry. Paula Abdul with a new single? It is so computerized sounding who knows if she is even singing it. Loved seeing Willie Nelson's beat up guitar - it even has a hole in it. Never noticed that before. A bit of trivia - I have driven past the very spot on the Texas highway where the cops found Willie pulled over sleeping off a pot buzz. Don't know why he is one of my favorite non-typical celebrities, but he is. His gravely voice works well with the crystal clear voice of Sara Evans, who sang with him.

Once Steve heard I was rooting for the Giants he decided he'd go for the Patriots as apparently I am bad luck! I always root for the underdog. I'd love to see the Giants win, but from the sounds of all the pre-game hype they don't stand much of a chance. We shall see. I remember watching the 2003 Super Bowl from the US Virgin Islands. We had flown down there for my interview for the position as the Library Director, St. Thomas Campus, of the University of the Virgin Islands. We were watching the game in bed as it came on late (Atlantic time zone) and I was exhausted from the stress of the interview and the thought of moving so far away that I fell asleep before it was over. Don't even remember who played. Happy and content back in civilization, teaching youth literature courses full-time, I am glad I took on the challenge of working as an academic librarian, but it was not my cup of tea. Big difference between teaching search strategies to marine biology students during the day and teaching children's and YA lit courses online at night. I had no regrets about not accepting an extended contract. I still love the islands, but trying to work there was very difficult. I am too type A to work on island time.

My latest read is an ARC for the new title in the Alane Ferguson Forensic Mysteries - The Circle of Blood. Since I some how have fallen off of the review copy list for Viking I hadn't read any of the other mysteries about 17-year-old Cameryn, assistant to her father, the County Coroner in a small Colorado town. Now I am sorry I hadn't. I have mentioned before what a big NCIS fan I am so these books are right up my alley. Cameryn has more to lose in this latest mystery because her mother, who has not been part of her life since she left years before, has returned to their small town and wants a role in Cameryn's life, much against the wishes of her father and grandmother. Cameryn had recently visited her mother when she saw her with a young teenage girl in the car with her. She also saw her mother run after the girl, whose is later found dead in an alley, with her long braid cut off. Did her mother murder the girl? How much of what she knows about the girl's last hours of life and her mother's involvement in it does she tell her father? Clearly Ferguson has done her forensics homework and knows the process of an autopsy, etc. She has also created a feisty, intelligent female protagonist who teen readers will be more than happy to help solve murder mysteries via forensic science. I just checked out Ferguson's web site: www.alaneferguson.com and realized why her name is familiar. She, along with Gloria Skurzynski, write the Mysteries in Our National Parks Mysteries, an upper elementary series.

Skurzynski is the author of the Virtual War Chronologs. I booktalked the first title, The Virtual War, quite a bit but hated the cover on the hardback. Was so glad to see a much more attractive cover on the newer paperback edition. A teenage boy in a furistic world who is basically raised by a hologram and has never had any interaction with other humans is quite intriguing. Add to that his training to fight a virtual war, with a teenage girl and a mutant boy, to win the last piece of uncontaminated land on earth - easy to booktalk and then some. There are now 4 books in the series, with the latest entitled The Choice.

Just listened to Alicia Keyes sing. I first heard of her when she was scheduled to give a concert on St. Thomas at UVI. Not sure what happened, but it was cancelled. That happened a lot down there. We went to a number of concerts at the university but the seats in the outdoor concert hall are so darn uncomfortable unless you right down on the floor in the expensive seats. I couldn't even sit through the one concert we sat on the upper tier wooden, backless seats. What a gorgeous facility, but I figured out real quickly why so many people were renting seat cushions when they entered!

All for today. Sorry for any typos - the spellcheck isn't working

Go Giants!!

This is going to be my last bit of "work" for today as my neck is telling me I am over doing it, but how else does a person get anything done when there aren't enough hours in the day?

I finally got my thank you emails written for the wonderful publisher events I attended at ALA Midwinter. I know I should have sat down with stationary or thank you cards and a pen but no one can read my hand writing anymore. Mary had to call me to ask what the gift tags said on the Christmas presents! Although I love all the meetings and presentations at ALA I adore the publisher events as I get to talk to other people who love YA and children's books as much as I do.

One of my favorites is the Abrams luncheon. This year I actually got to meet William Sleator and talk to him about Interstellar Pig while he signed the ARC for his new book Test. What a gracious man. We talked about how teens want to turn Interstellar Pig into their own board game - my son certainly did. That was the highlight of the luncheon, not me sending my plate of chicken and pasta up into the air and almost into Jeff Kinney's lap. It is a good thing he's a young guy - he got out of the way of the flying food fast! I was so embarrassed as it made a lot of noise and everyone looked my way. At least it happened before the authors started to speak! I was pretty pleased with myself chatting with Kinney about his Diary of a Wimpy Kid books as I had read the second one too and then it happened. I am one of the most clumsy people in the world and me trying to perch a plate of food on the edge of a small coffee table is just asking for a disaster. I am still finding tiny flecks of chicken sauce on my favorite cowboy boots! Anyway, our discussion included comments about how older teens are reading these books too. I was pleasantly surprised as I see them as elementary level books, but because of the graphic format they appear to be ageless. That is one of the things I love about the graphic format - no matter what the content (heaven forbid - even the classics) teens will read them. :-)

Speaking of unique formats, one of my favorite chick lit authors is Lauren Myracle and her instant message style novels starting with TTYL. I have to admit I had to ask someone what TTFN meant as I cannot remember ever saying Tah-tah (I am not even sure that's how you spell it) for now to anyone, but then again I grew up in the sticks of Upper Michigan so that's no surprise! So, when I saw that Myracle was one of the three authors (Lockhart and Mlynowski too) who got together to write the new HarperCollins chick lit road trip book, How to Be Bad, I had to read it. It might have had something to do with the pain meds, but I found myself laughing out loud as I read it, especially when they break into a small town museum so they can visit the lengendary alligator Old Joe, all 16 feet of him. Even behind glass he has poor Mel hyperventilating. She is the rich girl who recently started working at the Waffle House with Vicks and Jesse and is footing the bill for their road trip to Miami. Almost as funny is when they stop to eat and all there is to choose from is a hot dog cart. Poor Mel, the other two don't realize she is Jewish, even after she orders only the bun. They are on their way to visit Vicks' boyfriend who isn't making their long distance relationship easy with his few and far between short text messages. So the very religious Jesse, who is running away from the realization that her mother has breast cancer, "borrows" her mother's car and suggests the road trip. The reader gets to know the three very different girls as they meet a guy for Mel, crash at a party, drive through a hurricane, stay in a pirate hotel, and much more before arriving in Miami. This is the perfect beach read book and a good laugh was much needed after I read the wonderful, but gut wrenching, Wake by Lisa McMann, but that will have to wait until another posting. TTFN!! :-)

I had no idea just how wonderful the heated keyboard that Steve gave me was going to turn out to be. When Steve gave it to me I appreciated the warm keys as my hand are typically ice cold, but I had no idea just how much warmth it actually gives off and how delightful that can be until today. Our furnace quit working late Saturday afternoon and the builder was out of town for the weekend so we didn't get the name and phone number of the company that put the unit in until late last night. Steve called ever 1/2 hour this a.m. until he returned the call. We are 4th on the list, but he "thinks" the guys will get to us today. I sure as heck hope so. I am in thermal long johns under my sweats, with an extra fuzzy jacket on as well. Yesterday I spent most of my time in bed with the heated mattress pad and heating pad turned to high. Today I got smart and I took the little electric heater we have and came into my office, which is smaller and is heating up fairly well. I am glad we are in KY and not in WI with the very cold weather Mary and family has been dealing with. It was a balmy 32 degrees up there - she said it felt warm after the many days of below zero weather.

I am slowly lowering the # of pain pills I am taking a day so I see light at the end of the recovery tunnel. I have my good days and bad days, and the bad ones are my own fault as I start feeling a bit better and I over do it. But I have discovered the most wonderful "sleeping pill" - an hour with an audiobook. I lay on the heating pad and listen and find myself relaxing enough to fall asleep. It is wonderful as I tend to have trouble sleeping. It also drowns out Steve's snoring a bit too. :)

Since I was bed and warmth bound yesterday I read Evernight by Claudia Gray. What a cool vampire book!! I couldn't put it down. Bianca's parents have taken teaching jobs at the very remote and exclusive Evernight Academy. Bianca is not happy about it and decides to "run away" to teach them a lesson the night before school starts. As she makes her way through the woods she hears laughing - what sounds like a bonfire party - but she keeps walking and then sees a figure in a long black coat and starts to run. The figure tackles her to the ground. She thinks he is out to harm her and he thinks he is protecting her. An interesting way for their relationship to begin, especially since Jared ignores her when she tries to catch his eye. Bianca is no shrinking violet and demands to know why. Before long they are an item and their necking sessions become more and more passionate until one of them loses control and everything changes. This is not like Meyers' Twilight series with a "helpless" female falling for a vampire. This is a grab you and not let you go tale of two very strong characters who are defying every protocol involving human and vampire relationships. Thank goodness Diana Fox, Gray's agent, suggested she write a vampire novel. Gray has written a fascinating one and I do hope she will continue the tale of Bianca and Jared and in the hold-your-breath style as this one is written. There is no "bogging down" in this 327 page vicarious reader's admission to one of the creepiest private high schools ever found in a novel for teens. This gotta have HarperCollins title will hit the bookstores in late June. Watch out Isabella - Bianca is going to have teenage girls wishing they were her rather than you, and certainly not suggesting that Bianca quit whining already! :-)

That's it for today.

Shame on me - it has been basically 2 weeks since my last post. However, in that period of time I attended ALA Midwinter in Philly and had cervical spine (neck) surgery. So, I warn readers right up front - I am still on painkillers and I cannot vouch for my lucidity! I hope it isn't as bad as Stephen King who says he wrote entire novels while he was drinking that he does not remember having written. If only I could write best selling horror novels under the influence of these things! Best I can do is try to keep up with my email from students. I haven't even checked my listserv emails on my Yahoo email address.

I opened the back door this morning to let Sophie out and she decided that a cat who was born in Houston and lived most of her life in the U.S. Virgin Islands does not "do" snow. But it was glorious fluffy Christmas snow just waiting to be caught on the tongue. However, the sun came out about an hour ago and not only did the snow stop it has already melted off of my car and the roads. Wish I could get in the car and even go to the bookstore but the doctor has warned me against driving while taking these meds - especially in the snow.

Midwinter was wonderful as we discussed our last two choices for the Margaret A. Edwards award and chose Orson Scott Card and chose as honor books Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. One of my other favorites of his in this series is Shadow of the Giant as I really like Ender's "back up guy" Bean and Petra, the one female in battle school who can hold her own with the elite of the elite. She and Bean are married in Shadow and what happens to their children had me at the edge of my seat - literally, as I listened to it in the car while driving over to Greenville. I had the pleasure of meeting Card several years ago while getting a book signed that I gave to my son who loved Card's books. I booktalked Shadow at a conference and the men in the audience were delighted that I had read and booktalked a true "guy" book. During the break they were telling me about his alternative universe books. So, I have a lot of listening to do as soon as I am healthy enough to do the 9 hour drive over to ECU. The link to the award is: http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/margaretaedwards/margaretedwards.cfm

There has been a lot of controversy about our choice. In my opinion that has occurred because people often misunderstand why a particular choice was made because they don't know the award criteria. When I was an elementary school librarian I would get upset 3rd and 4th grade teachers who had assigned students to choose a Newbery title and when students chose The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman, or other winners that fall into the upper end of the age range (12-14), the teachers would get upset. I learned early on to explain the award age range and criteria to teachers and parents when they asked for Newbery titles.

The same thing has occurred with the Margaret A. Edwards award. This is an author award for his/her contribution to YA literature in relation to the long term impact his/her YA relevant books have had on teens. Card's Ender's books have been read by teens for decades and loved. You should see the fan site set up for him http://www.hatrack.com/ Lots of way cool stuff on here - clearly he has a following.

I flew home on Sunday, before the choice was announced at ALA Midwinter on Monday morning so I missed a lot of the hoop-la and didn't see the email from the SLJ reporter asking for input until the following article had been written. My input in in the feedback area. http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6523290.html
The artist whose feedback indicated Card's books are too violent for children is correct, but these books are not intended for children and I would not give the Ender's books to an 8 year old. Clearly he doesn't know the criteria for the award and is reacting to Card and these particular books being honored from a skewed point of view.

What has caused concern for many in relation to Card winning the Margaret A. Edwarda award are his opinion essays that are loud and clear about his view on homosexuality. These essays are not intended for the teen readership; nor does the award criteria address an author's personal views/values in relation to hot topic issues. Card is a Mormon so a conservative view is to be expected, but we did not consider this in our choice. I like controversy in the sense that it makes people discuss and in these discussions I hope that the criteria and the intent of the Edwards award becomes more clear to those who oppose honoring Card and his Ender's books with this award. And, perhaps it will mean more people will meet Ender and his battle school mates in this wonderful series. And, perhaps they will go on to read other teen appropriate Card titles. Can't wait to hear his acceptance speech at Annual in Anaheim this coming June.

This is a long posting, but I have to talk about one more book. I was so excited when Terry B. gave me the ARC for Nicky Singer's new book GEM X at the Holiday House booth at ALA Midwinter that I jumped up and down in excitement - but not for long as my neck let me know that was not something it liked at all. But, it was worth the short term shot of pain to have this book to read on the plane on the way home. Love it, love it!! My favorite book of 2007 was Singer's The Innocent's Story. (Earlier blog entry discusses this way cool book about a para-spirit - deliciously creepy) so I was very excited to have her upcoming YA novel in my hand. GEM X is so good that I wasn't too upset about the plane delay in Chicago as I had more time to finish it. Love the cover art - the side view of a teenage guy's face, flawless except for a small "crack" at the corner of his closed eye. This is not within 16-year-old Maxo's comprehension as his particular "generation" of genetically altered "humans" are perfect in every way. However, genetics does have a way of besting even the most skilled scientists, as happens in this case and that crack on Maxo's face is actually a wrinkle. Maxo is aging - not acceptable at all. When he is by himself and he looks closely at the crack in his face the unearthly scream he emits radiates right off the page. I was hooked and that scene is on page 4. To make matters worse he sees, on the surveillance cameras, a female Dreggie, what they call "natural" humans who work for the genetically altered populace and live in ghetto like conditions. She isn't GEM X perfect, but she is facinating to him and he can't get her out of his mind. How can Maxo be fascinated by a Dreggie, but he is and what happens to both Maxo and Gala, the strong willed teenage girl caring for her mother who is dying of cancer, will hold the reader to the very end. I hope someday to meet Singer and tell her how much I love her books. I need to find a copy of Feather Boy as I have yet to read her 3rd YA novel. Can't wait to booktalk this Holiday House title that is scheduled to hit the bookstores in December 2008.

Enough for today.

Aren't our daughter Monica and her two girls, Kady and Ally, just gorgeous? I love this picture of them. Steve was talking to Ally on the speaker phone on Christmas and she was just chattering away about the gifts she received. She is in Kindergarten now and has grown up so much. We haven't seen them in quite some time so I can't wait to play with Kady. She was an itty bitty when I held her last. Not sure when we will get back up to Kansas City or when they will get down here. When I was growing up grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. all lived close by and we had big family gatherings. Wish Monica and Mary lived closer so we could have everyone over. What is the use of a 9 foot Christmas tree if the grand kids aren't there to help trim it? Speaking of tree - it is still sitting, un-ornamented, in our living room. Too dang big for me to take down. Hopefully Steve will do it this weekend while I am at ALA in Philly. Hint, hint - of never mind, he never reads my blog!

I just sent in my two book reviews that are due next week so I wouldn't be worried about them in Philly or after the surgery. Writing them under the influence of narcotics would not be good! I was supposed to be at ALA Midwinter through Tuesday as I love going to the YALSA/AASL/ALSC reception on Monday night - get to see all kinds of friends there. But, my cervical spine surgery is scheduled for 10:00 Monday morning so I have to leave on Sunday. The doctor was waiting for the insurance company to approve the surgery and the approval came through yesterday. It was Monday or not until March - not an option. I am tired of hurting! The last set of numbing injections is wearing off. But, at least this way I am not spending weeks worrying about the surgery. And, I should be healed enough to hold my newborn granddaughter in late February. I am praying Mckinley has blue eyes and blonde hair, but not likely as neither of her parents do.

Read Truesight by David Stahler, Jr. I absolutely loved his delicious ghost book, A Gathering of Shades but was not as delighted with this SF title. I liked the main character, Jacob, but I kept thinking of The Giver as Jacob was turning 13 and would know what job he would be assigned in the sightless community of Harmony. Yes, another dystopia tale. Everything changes for Jacob when he begins to see - he had been born blind but was beginning to see. It fascinated him as he saw the corruption of his small community - it had been hidden by the blindness. His own mother was having an affair. Like Jonas, Jacob was given access to things that no one else in the community had. Well, except for his friend Delaney's very corrupt father who claimed his vision had been taken but had not been. I do think young teens who like The Giver and other dystopia tales will enjoy Truesight and the other two titles in the Truesight Trilogy - The Seer and Otherspace, which will come out in 2008.

Now to deal with my back log of emails. It feels like evening and has all day. The sun never came out and we had heavy rain with some hail a bit ago. A tiny river was running down the side our yard. Glad we didn't plant my lilac bush there. Very weird weather for January.

Still cold so the snow hasn't melted yet. Went out to get the mail in a pair of clogs and remembered why I wear boots from October until March - freezing ankles. I was happy to get back into the slippers Steve gave me. They are most wonderful pair of slippers I have ever had - they look like puffy filled high-top sneakers. He laughs at me as I wear them all the time - they make my feet look huge, but they are so warm. Had to take a picture of them to share with y'all and Sophie had to get into the picture too. Actually, she was just about to jump into my lap. She loves this warm blanket too. And yes, those are books all over the floor of my home office. I am very messy when I am reading and going through books I want to recommend and Sophie loves to knock over my piles of books.

The second set of injections to numb the nerves in my neck yesterday seem to be working even though my neck is making popping noises. I can look over my right shoulder again and even do so without yelping in pain. It usually takes a couple of days before the pain really settles down en0ugh that I am full of energy and ready to hit the stores! I go back in on Monday to talk about the next step in the process. Poor Steve was coming down with the flu when he dropped me off for the injections yesterday afternoon. When I called him to come get me he had the chills. We got home and he crawled in bed with his jacket on, a heating pad, and our heated mattress pad on high. He was shivering so hard the bed was shaking. Was a miserable night for him, hence for me too as I am a very light sleeper. He slept most of today and was back in bed by 7:00 tonight. I sure hope I don't catch his flu. Just my luck I'll get it just before I leave for ALA Midwinter next week.

This morning while he was crashed on the couch watching an old b/w movie I enjoyed the quiet house. I think the wireless headphones I gave him for Christmas are more of a present for me than him! So while he watched TV as loud as he wanted to, I read Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. I had the pleasure of sitting next to the author at an Abrams event and he is such a neat guy. I had browsed through the book before but wanted to read it in one chunk before I start the sequel Rodrick Rules. Having just read the first book I know that Rodrick is Greg's older brother who plays in a band called the Loded Diper (pronounced like Loaded Diaper). Rodrick is not the helpful older brother. He does things like wake Greg up out of a deep sleep during the summer, convincing him it is the first morning of school. After all, Rodrick is in his school clothes, backpack on and ready to go. So Greg is eating Cheerios at 3 a.m. when his father wakes up, but Rodrick is fast asleep so Dad doesn't believe Greg that Rodrick had played a trick on him. Greg's best friend is Rowley, who is even more immature for a middler schooler than Greg is and keeps embarrassing Greg, but as a reader you can't help but love this kid who puts up with being the guinea pig for Greg's stunts. No specific grade level is indicated, other than middle school, but the content and characters suggest upper elementary - grades 3-6. The Wimpy Kid books are written as journal entries with numerous line drawings. The cover states "a novel in cartoons" - an appropriate descriptor. Great guy book for the boys who find themselves trying to deal with growing up in a school environment that isn't friendly to the kids who aren't exactly macho. I will most definitely buy these books for my grandsons when they get older. A perfect read for both the hallway tormentors as well as the tormentees!

That's it for today.

Not exactly a great picture, but it does show the snow in our backyard. No going out to read a book on the canopied swing today! A dark, cold day. Yahoo weather says it is 11 degrees, but with the windchill factor, -4. It feels like it too! My car is parked right in front of my office window and it is covered with a fine dusting of snow and the windshield is a frozen over. Glad Steve is coming home to get me for my second set of cervical facet injections this afternoon. Just the thought of getting out there and scraping the windshield of my car makes me shutter. I love winter, but only for a few minutes and from the inside, looking out!

Hard to believe the Holidays are over and 2008 is upon us. Off to ALA Midwinter on Friday, next week. It will be chilly in Philly. I am very excited to be on the committee that will choose the 2008 Margaret A. Edwards award winning YA author. We will be doing our final deliberations at Midwinter and make the final decision, which will be announced Monday morning, 1/14/08, with all of the other youth literature awards. Being in the room when the announcements are made is the best part of Midwinter. The gasps, the shouts of happiness, the sighs fill the room, with publishers rushing out to spread the news when one of their titles is announced.

My New Year's reading was Shana Norris's Something to BLOG About. This is her debut novel with Abrams and it is a delightful read. One of those books that just makes you feel good as the geeky girl gets the guy. But, not before Libby is humiliated beyond belief when her password protected blog is shared with the entire school by her arch enemy Angel Rivera. Not only is Angel the most gorgeous girl in the 10th grade, she is also interested in Seth, the guy Libby has drooled over since they did an 8th grade English project together. To make matters worse, Angel may well become "family" as their parents are dating. This multicultural cast of female characters, including Keisha, Libby's best friend who threatens to kick every one's butt, but never has, have the readers laughing and cringing at the same time as they bicker, fight, and make up. Libby's blog entries alternate with first person narrative chapters that result in a fast and fun read. Give this one to the girls who love Meg Cabot and Lauren Myracle. A gotta have for 7-9 grade libraries.

How is it that time goes so much faster when on vacation? The day is gone before you know it. May be in part because we sleep in a bit later and I read with Sophie a little longer in the morning. :-)

Called the pain management doctor today to see if I could start physical therapy again and he was not happy to hear that I had even been to the gym and did a few things with my arms. I guess my brain was as numb as my neck as I don't remember him telling me I had to be careful as I could hurt myself without realizing it. Well, now I know as I am hurting again. The numbness has worn off and I am scheduled for another set of cervical facet injections next Wednesday. Now that I know how darn awful they feel (combination of pain and pressure) I am even more nervous about them.

So today when Steve went to the gym to work out a bit, I went along and just walked on the track for a mile. Even that tired me out! I hate this - I have great days and do too much and then have bad days. So I'm sitting with a heating pad again. It can take several times with the injections before long term pain relief so I just need to suck it up and deal with it.

I am listening to The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks on my MP3 player as I walk. I have been listening to it for quite awhile as I haven't been doing much of that lately. The book is one you ponder about after just a few minutes of listening to it as the idea of someone always watching you and a foundation trying to eliminate anyone who thinks for themselves sounds a bit too real these days. The ones they are really scared of are the people who have a gene that allows them to travel through time. For generations the Travelers have been eliminated whenever found. I think teenage guys would love this book because of all the fighting, especially the Harlequins, with their swords. They have been trainedfor generations to protect the Travelers, who have ushered in changes in history. The Travelers is book one in the Fourth Realm Trilogy. Dark River, book two is out, but I haven't downloaded it yet. I am sure I will as I am thoroughly loving book one. Some days the idea of living "off the grid" - where no one can find you through a trail of paperwork - sounds pretty good. Especially when the mailbox is full of junk mail.

I was feeling lonesome for the kids on Christmas Eve so we went to see the second National Treasure movie to keep my mind occupied. I liked it better than the first one as Jon Voigt has a bigger part in the movie and his ex-wife is one feisty anthropology professor played by Helen Mirren. Clearly she loved this part and said she did most of her own stunts. Clues hidden national monuments and the president's desk results in more than a bit of a history lesson but in an enjoyable manner. Just seeing Mount Rushmore in the movie made me smile as I remember when we got to the park, it was raining and the clouds had settled in around the faces. We walked all the way out to the closest viewing area and couldn't see anything. We hung around for quite awhile, but gave up and walked back and got ready to leave. The dog had to pee so while I was walking Coco the breeze picked up and blew the clouds away, one face at a time. It was incredible. Took my breath away. And we would have missed it if it weren't for a tiny dog's tiny bladder! :-)

My morning reading has been The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt. A superb junior high age book. English teachers will love this one as it makes Shakespeare sound like something rambunctious, adventurous young teenage guys could get into, with all the violence and cussing! Because Holling isn't Jewish or Catholic, he is stuck in the classroom with Mrs. Baker while all the other kids are off to their lessons. This is where Shakespeare comes in - Holling is expected to read and understand it. His knowledge of Shakespeare results in him playing Ariel (in yellow tights with white feather on the butt - much to his dismay) in The Tempest on stage. He was so good at the part that his picture, flying through the air in a jump, ends up on the front page of the local paper - him in tights! Not a good thing for a teenage guy. The book is set during the Vietnam War era and Mrs. Baker's husband is missing in action, Holling's sister wants to be a flower child, and Holling would just like his father to pay attention to him other than to make sure he doesn't hurt the family's architecture business by offending anyone who might have an influence on if his father's company getting the contract for a new building. No vulgar language, no sex scenes to worry about - a perfect book for classroom reading. This one is going to win some kind of award - or at least it should. :-)

All for today.

Good heavens - 10 days since my last post. How fast this Holiday Season is going! Last weekend Steve and I went to see a Christmas concert in our very lovely little Opera House downtown. Two local girls who have made it good on Broadway - one of them plays the lead in Legally Blonde and the other one is the dance team captain and dances in A Chorus Line. I thoroughly enjoyed it as they sang holiday songs, and a few Broadway tuns from their shows, with a local jazz band. I think Steve did well with tolerating it because he isn't into Holiday music. We drove by the wonderful downtown Christmas lights, including the very large tree in front of Court House, which someone had run into earlier that day. How they ran into it is beyond me as to where it is, but they had it fixed.

Yesterday we made it until half-time at the Cincinnati Bengal's game. We got there pretty early as Steve wasn't sure where to park. Of course we found the parking lot ($25!!) quickly and had to either sit or stand in the cold and wind and wait for the game to start. I had tights, wool pants, two sweaters, my winter jacket and a scarf wrapped around my head under my hood and I was still freezing. Every time I'd get the freezing cold seat warmed up I had to stand up to let someone by. I had a little tunnel view but it didn't do me much good as the tall guy in front of me stood up most of the game. Maybe his buns were as cold as mine! Steve took pity on me at half-time and we left. Listened to the rest of the game in the snug warm car with the seat-warmers turned on. The Bengals won. :-) I drank most of a pot of coffee as well as took a hot bath and a shower last night to warm up. It might not have been so bad if the wind hadn't been blowing close to 35 mph. My hood was acting like a wind tunnel at times. Let's just say I like the Texans stadium in Houston much better. Even with their warmer weather they have a roof they can close.

Haven't been doing much reading - more watching Christmas movies, but I did read Christopher Paul Curtis's Elijah of Buxton. If this doesn't win the Coretta Scott King Award I will be surprised. And, I suspect it is getting a close look at for the Newbery. Curtis just gets better with each book. Set in a settlement for runaway slaves across the border from Detroit, Buxton is home to 11-year-old Elijah - the first free born child in the settlement. He is a "fragile" boy as his mother calls him, but he shows his true courage when he has to leave the safety of the settlement in pursuit of the corrupt preacher who has taken all of a family friend's money to purchase his family. What Elijah sees in the slavers' barn in his search for the culprit brutally washes away his innocence but he he returns to Buxton as a hero, with a tiny new resident in his arms. Absolutely love this book. I laughed and cried - the sure sign of a Curtis book. The use of vernacular language may make this difficult for some young readers, but the story and Elijah will delight them so thoroughly they will gladly join Elijah in his adventures, both funny and terrifying.

All for today. It is Christmas Eve and the sun is out, though it is very cold out. No snow, but that's fine with me. I love being in our own home, content and warm and listening to Steve chuckle as he is watching one if his favorite shows on his laptop. We are off to Christmas dinner with friends' - my contribution is double chocolate brownies - of course! :-)

Another week have gone and it is only 10 days until Christmas. That is hard to believe! I was at the Fayette Mall today and it was pretty crazy, but not as bad as I expected. I was so excited - I found a watch repair place that was able to replace the battery on my watch without me having to send it in. I also had the pleasure of sitting next to, in the food court, a lady from Scott county who told me her Homemakers' group, the Buffalo Club, is responsible for the gorgeous painted quilt blocks on sides of barns in the area. The ladies paint them free of charge, other than materials. They also do lots of other volunteer projects. I need to find this group in Fayette County.

I stopped by Tates Creek HS on my way to the mall to drop of the two playaway audiobooks I had borrowed and to donate some graphic novels and other YA titles. I love this library. I was only there for about 20 minutes but during the whole time there were teens coming up to check out books and there were others on the computers. I am going to be doing a day long booktalking workshop at the HS in June - how fun!!

I can actually move my neck to the right without hearing awful noises and gasping in pain. The muscles in my neck, arm, and upper back are still sore, but the sharp pain is gone. The cervical facet block yesterday at the pain management clinic worked!! It was quite uncomfortable, if not down right painful, to have the injection needles stuck in my neck and I could feel the pressure as the stuff was going in, but I woke up this morning with less pain and more movement in my neck than I have had since May, so a miserable few hours was well worth it. The pain relief could last for only a few days, or for a couple of months, but however long it lasts I am a happy camper. I go back in January 10th for biofeedback to try to learn how to manage the muscle spasms.

Stopped at Urban Active Fitness and bought Steve and I an early Christmas present - a membership. They used to be part of Gold's Gym but went independent. What a gym! It is huge, but what I am interested in is the pool. I was given a "prescription" of water aerobics 3x a week and they have a nice heated pool so I guess I start tomorrow. I did water aerobics with Mary when she was pregnant and enjoyed it so we shall see. Steve doesn't know it yet, but he is going to go to spinning classes. :-)

My recent Christmas reading has been Ann M. Martin's On Christmas Eve. What a delightful feel good book about about an 8-year-old who is determined to meet Santa on Christmas Eve and give him a present. She has a snow globe with a spring scene for him to enjoy in the North Pole. Tess asks Santa for a gift he cannot give her - a cure for her best friend Sarah's father, but even Santa cannot cure his cancer. But, he can help to make sure Christmas stays alive for Sarah and her mother. The moment when Tess meets Santa is so precious as is her realization that the animals truly can speak during this magical night of the year, including her beloved dog. This is a one of those books that is going to be classic, in part because it is set in the 1950s when life was much simpler for our children, but also because it is a beautiful but gentle read aloud for the Holidays. This is keeper for both the home bookshelf and the library shelf.

All for today. I have all kinds of ideas what I want to do while I am able to move around a bit. Maybe I can convince Steve to drive through the Horse Park tonight so we can see the lights. We are supposed to get snow/freezing rain during the weekend so now would be a good evening to do it.

Another weekend has come to an end and I still haven't put my Fall courses to bed. I have a student who is sick and I am waiting on her final assignment. Already thinking about the changes I have to make to the documents for Spring semester courses. When I was a school librarian I loved the Holiday Break as I was truly on vacation when school was out. I could curl up and read, bake with the kids and we'd play cards and Scrabble for hours. I never worried about going back to work. I always was given a much wanted bestseller that I curled up with Christmas afternoon. Now I look at semester breaks as a time to try to catch up on work. I think I need a vacation with no laptop, email, or phones!!

We were supposed to drive up to Georgetown and go to a radio show style play of It's a Wonderful Life. You know I have to be feeling really rotten not to want to go out to dinner and to the play. Steve also has an awful head cold and I don't think anyone would have been very happy to be sitting next to him. So we watched old b/w movies while I sat with the heating pad on my neck. I can't believe I am actually saying I am looking forward to having needles stuck in my neck and arms tomorrow afternoon, but I am. At least maybe the neurologist will find something. This testing has to be done before I go back to the pain management doctor on Thursday when he is going to do some type of shot that should block the pain in my neck. If it works there may be light at the end of this 6 month long tunnel of pain. I really like the new pain management doctor - he has the most wonderful British accent. And, he lived in New Zealand and knows exactly where Mic was hiking. He was telling me what a beautiful country New Zealand is. Still don't have the heart to visit where Mic died.

We would have tons of snow if it were a bit colder. Lots of rain for days here. We need it, but I am tired of the gray days. Kinda of matches me mood lately. But, I have been watching Christmas movies while putting together receipts for the end of the year Flex Spending Account. I am on my second Dolly Parton Christmas movie. Steve is watching football in the living room so I am curled up on the bed. Thank goodness for laptops!

Not exactly a Christmas title, but I loved Neil Gaiman's M is for Magic, a collection of his short stories that have been published in other places and pull together for a teen audience. He has such a way with creepy! My favorite one is about the boy that has been raised by ghosts and finds himself entering the human world to try and buy a headstone for a witch. Gaiman plays with well known nursery rhymes and turns them into a detective short story about finding out who really killed Humpty Dumpty. I found myself laughing out loud and/or shuddering all while reading the same story. The writing quality varies greatly amongst the stories but they are all a delicious read. A great Christmas gift for the younger teen who loves ghost and horror stories.

I listened to part of Gaiman's interview on B&N and he is a very interesting guy. I had to chuckle as he talked about teachers telling him not to read comics as they would rot his mind, but he was also the kid who won the English award and has read every book in the school library. I wish all kids would just listen to their own reading hearts and read what they want. The more comfortable with books kids get the more likely they to be reading everything in sight as they get older. Tell them the books they love are trash reading or junk is an awful thing to do, but teachers and some parents do just that.

I know my Christmas romances are junk reading, but so what? I enjoy them. I am wallowing in Janet Dailey's Mistletoe and Molly and read almost all of it last night as I couldn't sleep because of my neck. They are escape reading that helps me keep my sanity with the rest of the things that are going on. Why would we deny kids or teens this same kind of stress relief?

I am seeing light at the end of tunnel!! The semester is almost over. I think I am as excited as my students this time. This has been the semester from Hades with all the health problems. The last of the assignments are due by midnight tomorrow and then I can finish up grading and start putting Fall semester to bed. I have had a wonderful group of students - it is just trying to keep up with everything along with doctor's appointments, etc.

I gave up on the pain management doctor who I initially was supposed to see. I made the appointment in early November and it was mid- January. Then his receptionist calls and says he will be presenting at a conference the day of my appointment and backed it up to the end of January. My wonderful physical therapist suggested another pain management doctor, and after getting the mandatory referral from my regular GP, I finally get in to see him Wednesday morning. I haven't been this excited to have a doctor's appointment scheduled in my life!! The anti-inflammatory meds are giving me some relief but I have forgotten what it is like to not hurt.

I turned the big 51 on Saturday! Steve treated me to blueberry pancakes in bed for breakfast - even blueberry syrup. I am a big blueberry nut in memory of my mom who picked wild blueberries with abandoned delight. She was so good at finding the patches of big ones that she was selling them to the local grocery stores. Well, those that were not going into her yummy pies. I love blueberry anything!! I even have the blueberry pattern dishes from L.L. Bean, and a blueberry wreath and picture on the kitchen wall. And, I absolutely love the book - Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey. The pictures of her sitting in the patch eating as many berries as go into her can reminds me of myself as a little one. I ate more than I picked - still do if I get the chance. I never did encounter a bear in the same patch as she does, but this Caldecott picture book from way back is a gotta have for both home and library use. I read it to kindergartners- 2nd graders in Alaska as they knew all about sharing berry patches with bears!!
My mom also had this friend, Aili, who was my dad's best friend's aunt, who would go picking berries with us when I was little. Oh she was hilarious - she sang so loud we knew no bear would come anywhere near us. I can close my eyes and see her with her hair in a braid wrapped around her head and in gaudy pedal pushers!!

We also went downtown to the Christmas Parade. BRRRR!!! It was freezing out and standing in one place was awful - the bottom of my feet were so cold I couldn't feel my little toes. The parade ended and there was over a 1/2 hour of speakers, carols, etc. until the tree lighting. We almost made it, but had to give up. We caught a few of the fireworks from the car as we headed home. Next year I want to just go down for the tree lighting and fireworks, if I can get Steve to agree. He went because it was part of my birthday present. He also bought us tickets to drive through the Christmas lights display at the Horse Park and to the Christmas music at the opera house closer to Christmas. He knows what a Christmas nut I am. I am listening to either Christmas music or a Christmas book in the car right now. I love this time of year. People are nicer to each other and it all about finding the gift for loved ones that you know they will like. And, it could snow for a few minutes on Christmas day and then be done with it!

Speaking of Christmas, I read There's Something About Christmas by Debbie Macomber recently. It isn't a book to write home about, but I liked it because of the fruitcake theme. A novice reporter was interviewing three Washington State women who were in a national woman's magazine final contests for a fruitcake recipe. I know most people don't like fruitcake, but I love it. I had the joy of going to pick out my own fruitcake at Collins Street Bakery in Corsicana, TX when we lived near Dallas. Their fruitcakes are to die for, but the calories will kill a Holiday diet. I was just on their web site, drooling: http://www.collinstreet.com/pages/deluxe_fruitcake?t=s_go_kw_fruitcake_texas&gclid=CI2Q7MKQjZACFUV0OAodgEb5cA My mom used to make these little fruitcakes and send them to us in Alaska. They weren't the greatest but it was because Mom had made them that they were eaten with a cup a coffee and a smile. My mom smoked like a chimney so when the care package came the whole box smelled for cigarette smoke instead of the good things inside. My dad always sent me red string licorice as I loved it as a kid and still do. And my mom made fruitcake, delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and Finnish cinnamon rolls I cannot replicate, no how. Must have been that darn wood stove!!

Anyway, back to the book. It is a romance between the young reporter and the small plane pilot who takes the scared-of-flying passenger to her interview sights. She had given up on celebrating Christmas when her mom died, but this guy and a lost dog she adopts bring Christmas back into her life. Yes, I agree - There's Something About Christmas. The author's note suggests the reader try the fruitcake recipes in the book, and I may well try the chocolate flavored one!! She also noted that she writes an annual Christmas romance so I guess I will always have at least one holiday romance to read. I do read other than children's and YA titles once in awhile, especially during the Holidays. I'd like to say this one has teen appeal, but only to the die-hard romance fan, or Holiday freak like me.

All for today. Steve should be home soon and I still haven't gotten the books to send to ECU for the Holiday party wrapped. We always give books to our secret pals and then donate them to the local homeless shelter. I can't drive over to the department party so I will have to send the books to my pal. This being "grounded" from the drive over to campus is not any fun at all!!

Yuck!! What an awful day. It has rained basically all day - think of the snow that would be on the ground if it were a bit colder. I went outside for a few minutes to see if the ties on a Christmas bow I found were long enough to put around our dog statue's neck and decided it could wait until the weather changed!

Thank goodness it was just very cold, not raining, on Saturday when we went to the races at Churchill Downs in Louisville, where the Derby is held in the summer. We were waiting for a buddy of Steve's to give us the tickets to get into his family gathering on what is called Millionaire's Row, which is basically a banquet room full of tables like at a big author dinner at ALA. Nothing fancy about it, nor about Churchill Downs really. But, the room was four stories up and you didn't have to go outside to see the races if you didn't want to. We actually were right down next to the track for the first couple races and it was really cool to hear the hoof beats so close. I made the mistake of using the restroom on that level - it wasn't heated! Let's just say my visit was as short as possible. I was really ready to be inside. We lost more than we won betting, but it was fun.

We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home, just the two of us, since both the granddaughters had pink eye and Monica had a head cold. My resistance is so low right now that, although we miss them something terrible, I am glad they didn't come down. We all would have been miserable. Thursday wasn't one of my good days so Steve ended up making most of the dinner. I had a leftover turkey sandwich for lunch today - that's my favorite part, with cranberry sauce on it too. :-)

I finally got the last of the Christmas decorations up inside. Now we just need to wait for the weather to clear up so Steve can put the grapevine deer out on the lawn. I like them better than the white ones as they look a bit more realistic, but then again - how realistic is a deer covered in white lights? Next project is to get the grandkids gifts wrapped and sent out. I did not attempt Black Friday sales shopping even though some of the prices were fantastic. We went to the eye doctor's instead. I can't believe how expensive our glasses were, even with our insurance. But then again, I didn't exactly pick cheapo frames and the no line bifocals are expensive - yes, I am too vain to wear ones where you can see the line.

My book for today is Boy Toy by Barry Lyga. I think the best adjective for this book is disturbing. I felt myself squirming and cringing as I read scenes between 12-year-old Josh and his history teacher. The poor kid honestly believed that he had seduced her while she was interviewing him for a fictitious research project, at her apartment after school. Most of the book is written from Josh's seventeen-year-old perspective, as he tries to relate to Heather, the very girl he tried to have sex with in a closet when they were 12, what had caused him to act like that 5 years ago. Sadly, his perspective, initially, isn't much more mature in relation to what happened to him than it had been when he refused to testify against the teacher in court. It took a final encounter with his molester for Josh to accept he was not at fault. This is one of those books I wish all teens would read, but I am sure it is going to be controversial.

That's it for today.

Friday afternoon is here and still no call from the pain clinic. This lack of promptness is getting to be a pain and I am not looking forward to calling the appointment's person at the other doctor's office and being told to be patient. Yes, I am a patient, but patient I am not!! By Monday I will be good and cranky about it when I call.

Made a quick run to WalMart to get salad makings for dinner. Steve is still doing great on the NutriSystem diet and I am still gaining and losing the same pound and a 1/2 but we have the food so may as well go for it until it is gone but man the minestrone soup I had for lunch was awful!! Wandered through the Christmas aisles but nothing piqued my fancy. Meijer has better stuff. Need to go to Garden Ridge and Michael's next time.

Pretty proud of myself - two final exams written and ready to go. I didn't want them haunting me during the Thanksgiving Break. I am going to curl up and watch old movies with Steve. We both love them, though I go more for the romance and Christmas movies and he goes for the military ones. We both love the humorous ones. I want to watch the Nick and Norah Christmas one again. Very funny and how can you not love Asta the dog?

For those of you looking for a cute present for your kid's teacher or for yourself, take a look at the delightful Mrs. Spitzer's Garden by Edith Pattou. The illustrations by Tricia Tusa are adorable - who knew how express flowers could be? It is a feast for the eyes and the comparison to students in her elementary classroom to the garden she tends is wonderful. The tidbit on the back book jacket flap states that Pattou wrote the book as a gift for her daughter's kindergarten teacher. The nurturing, watchful way of a teacher is very much like that of gardener. :-) I also like that it is smaller in size than a regular picture book - fits the story line. This one I am keeping for myself. Many of you already have this in your collection, personal or library, as it was initially published in 2001 but Harcourt brought it back out in a new gift edition - that's the one I have.

The weekend is almost here and I can finish decorating the tree! :-) We are going see Trans-Siberian Orchestra tomorrow night. I can't wait - I love their Christmas CDs and DVDs. Mary saw them in Green Bay a few years ago and loved them and I was so jealous. Now they are here in Lexington.

I am exhausted! I sure don't have the stamina or strength I used to. Mary and I could go shopping all day and then still have energy to do something that evening. I spent a couple hours in Kohl's doing Christmas shopping for the grand kids and I am wiped out - and so is my charge card! Found lots of cool stuff for all four of them and even a couple things for McKinley who isn't even here yet. I am sure the fact that it was a one day only 50% off sale made the store more crowded than usual on a weekday afternoon, but it was also senior citizen day and they were meandering around the store at a leisurely pace slowing down all us type A personality moms and grammas who move as fast as we can without taking anyone out in the process.

Then I sat on hold with the doctor's office to find out that yes they had faxed the request for an appointment to the pain clinic and it might be a few more days before they contact me. How hard is it to pick up a phone and call to set up an appointment? I am not supposed to do it - I am supposed to wait until they call. Yes, I am getting a bit grumpy with doctor's office, waiting 2 hours to get in for appointments, etc.

Okay, deep breath - AHHHH!! Now to talk about another gentle book. I really love Norma Fox Mazer's writing. A search on B&N shows 127 items. I am delighted to see Out of Control still in print as I think it is one of best YA novels available about ostracism of a teen who is the victim. Valerie is accosted on the school stairs by three jocks who sexually harass her, grabbing and roughly fondling her. When she reports it, she becomes the victim. I also love When She Was Good - a very raw and difficult look at a teenage girl who has been victimized for so long her mentally unstable older sister that she does not know what to do when her sister is dead. On a much gentler side is Baby Face, which I wrote about in the blog a bit ago. Mazer has written so many other wonderful middle grade and YA novels and a few picture books too. I couldn't resist Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear when I realized it was by Mazer. Not only do I love the title, I love the cover art as well - it just calls to girls in 3rd-5th grade. A girl sitting with her arm around her dog , with her sister's feet floating off the page above her in a cloud. Love the smile/smirk on her face. Sprig is ten and her sister Dakota just turned twelve. "Boom!" Just like that, like something fell out of the sky and hit her on the head, she also turned bossy and know-it-all." This change in her sister's personality is difficult for Sprig as she wears her heart on her sleeve and when she is upset she cries, making Dakota tease her even more. But, Sprig has good reason to cry as they find out their father is going to be working in Afghanistan for several months and Sprig is worried he might not come home. Mazer explores the fears of a shy 10-year-0ld who loses her anchor, her father, and is dealing with a preoccupied mother and a bratty sister. I have never had a sister so I don't know how accurate the depiction of interaction between sisters is, but this book works for me. :-) And, I think the 8 -10 year olds with older sisters, and the older sisters who read it, will enjoy it as well.

I am enjoying the first Christine Feehan novella about a reclusive rock star who was terribly burned in a fire trying to rescue his children, who were already out of the house. They are now young teens and the woman who has cared for them for years will reawaken feelings in him. Remember - these are paranormal romances!! I forgot how sensual these books are. She never uses any private anatomy terms but you know exactly what she is writing about. I have to chuckle when I see teenage girls, some tweens even, walking around with romances written for adults. They can be downright steamy. I snuck the ones that were around our house growing up but most of it went over my head.

I am just now starting to come out of my funk over the MRI test results. I had an appointment with the neck specialist on Friday and he shared the results with me. I have nerve impingement at the C 1 & 2 vertebrae, which explains the vertigo symptoms as well as the throbbing headache at the base of my skull. I also have herniations between each of the vertebrae from C 3 through C 7. The weakness and numbness in my right arm has gotten worse and I no longer have a reflex in my upper right side. No fix in sight as surgery isn't an option. He is referring me to a pain management specialist and I am waiting to hear when my first appointment is. The assumption is they will do injections to help ease the pain and swelling. I was so hoping for a quick fix and felt sorry for myself most of the weekend. Had a follow up with my regular GP yesterday and she went over the results with me again in easier to understand terms. She has a beside manner! With something like this where you look normal, other than a bit tired, it is hard not to feel like a hypochondriac as you look fine to everyone else. She prescribed an anti-inflammatory that has yet to begin working, other than to make me sick to my stomach. I have been keeping Walgreen's pharmacy in business with all the different medications they have tried.

On the positive side, I decided with all that bad news I deserved a bit of holiday joy so I went to Macy's and bought myself a starter set of the Spode Christmas tree dishes I had some of years ago when the kids were little. They are gorgeous but very expensive even with the discount. But, now I have something else Christmasy to collect. :-) We do have the tree up already and I am enjoying the lights but I have yet to put any ornaments on it.

I finished the Bill Wallace holiday treat - The Dog Who Thought He Was Santa. What a great read aloud at home with your kids of all ages. The main character, Don, is eleven, but he has a little sister who is a delight so the whole elementary age spectrum would enjoy it. My favorite chapters are the ones that Frank, the family bloodhound, narrates. Such wisdom! He knows human behavior better than we do. Heck, he can smell a lie a mile away, especially when it is one of his family telling it. Set in Oklahoma in the 50s, this is a gentle family story that will become a classic for reading aloud during the holidays. You can't help but laugh when Frank discovers what Susan wants for Christmas and is mortified that such a creature could be added to their family.

My other treat to myself is to read a book that is not for children or YAs. I found a sale copy of A Christine Feehan Holiday Treasury - a collection of three novellas with a Christmas setting. I love Feehan's series about the paranormal Drake sisters and want to read the whole series when I have time. Only read two of them so far. Too many books, so little time. Have yet to delve into her vampire books but would like to explore those as well. Her books are complete escapism reading for me.

That's it for today. It is already dark outside - I hate daylight savings time. I'd rather it be lighter longer in the evening than in the morning. The weather was so dark and dreary today it never did get very light outside. I have had the tree lights on all day to brighten up the house a bit. At least we got quite a bit of rain this morning. Our new little spruce tree in the front yard is doing so well. Now if only we could keep rude people from letting their dang dogs pee on it when they walk them!

Well, we didn't make it to the basketball game last night, which is fine since they got slaughtered. It turned out to be a much better evening. After our "delicious" NutriSystem dinner we headed out to find Hobby Lobby. Not only did we find it, we left with a 9 foot tall Christmas tree. :-) Steve put it up last night as he knew I couldn't resist doing so today and would be trying to get it out of the box myself. The darn thing is in 4 parts and takes up a good portion of our living room! I want to get most of it trimmed before the granddaughters get here and Ally can help me with a few of the decorations.

I am not going to be one of the stars of NutriSystem, though perhaps Steve could be. I got excited when I lost 2 lbs, but not only have I put those back on, I added a 1/2 pound on top of it! GRRRR!!! And, I am turning into a rabbit from all of the salad I have been eating. I was craving bread so I had the Sloppy Joe for lunch as I could have it on a bun. YUCK!! I took two Tums right afterward as I knew it was going to mess with my stomach. But, I have to say the dinner entrees are really tasty in most cases. I am stopping at the store every other day to buy lettuce, radishes, mushrooms, etc. We are eating healthy but I do see the pounds sliding off, but Steve has lost close to 10 already. I am very jealous.

I finished The Bonemender's Choice last night and I sighed at the ending. Made me happy - I read so many realistic problem novels the happy endings in fantasy are a nice change. I really like Holly Bennett's writing style and noticed she also has a YA novel called Warrior's Daughter. I thought I received all of Orca's YA titles but I don't remember seeing it in on my shelves. Will have to look closer as I'd like to read it since it is loosely based on an Irish legend. I love this kind of fantasy. Well, in all honesty - I just love fantasy. If I could read just want I wanted to I'd pretty much stick with fantasy and a few historical romances here and there. But, not an option for someone who teaches children's and YA literature and does presentations on all genres of youth literature. I just started a Christmas book - no surprise! A Bill Wallace title where the boy and the family dog are the narrators. I was chuckling in the office while waiting to get in for my MRI this morning. A dog's perspective on a family can be quite amusing. Will write more about it when I finish it.

All for today. Off to the doctor's again tomorrow to find out what the results are of the cervical MRI. Just want some closure on this!!

I did well with postings for a couple of days in a row. Then I got caught up in doctor visits, etc. Weakness in my right side is worse so I go in for a new cervical MRI tomorrow and right back to the neck specialist on Friday. The new pain medication he gave doesn't work worth a flip so I hope this MRI offers up some answers. At this point I'd be happy to hear surgery could fix it. I had not realized how tired a person can get when experiencing pain over long periods of time - this has been going on since late May.

A friend gave us tickets to go to a basketball game at Rupp Arena tonight, but he just called to say the game doesn't even start until 9:00. He said he totally understood if we didn't use the tickets because of that. This old lady is normally in bed reading by that time of night. But, Steve thought it might take my mind off my neck. We also could have gone to a UK hockey game last Saturday night, but they play at Midnight! That is absolutely crazy. Perhaps when I was in my 20s I would have been up for freezing my fanny at that time of night, but not now. I hate daylight savings time as it gets dark so early. It is only 5:00 and the sun is starting to set - it will be dark by 6:00. I'd rather it be dark in the morning.

Thanksgiving is coming up and I need to start thinking about recipes for fun foods since we will have Monica and family down. The two girls, Isabella and Olivia Gerasole, who wrote The Spatulatta Cookbook would probably do better with making fun stuff with our granddaughters than I could. I really do like this kids' cookbook. Spiral bound so it sits flat and has thick slick heavy stock pages so spills will easily wipe off. Up close color photographs of the two girls in the kitchen busy with their recipes add a touch of fun as they look like they are loving every moment of it.

I am winding my way to the end of The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and am almost disappointed it is coming to an end, but it has been a long listen - about 15 CDs. I am afraid I just may be sounding a bit like a prissy British woman if I listen too much longer! I can see older teens being interested in this book as much of the book focuses on the main character and her twin sister when they were children and teens. The narrator also focuses on the loss of her twin in a very spooky way. The author has a way with beautiful descriptive passages that are glorious to listen to, but unlike a book, I don't stop the CD and "re-read" them as I would if I were reading the text. They just hang in the air for a bit and make me smile as I can see in detail what she describes. The narrator's love of books is so intense that it vibrates off the page and into the soul of those of us who too are book lovers. This is the perfect book to give as a Christmas gift to someone you know is always surrounded by books, especially books set in a time long past, such as Wuthering Heights. It is a perfect curl up and read after a Christmas dinner book.

On my bedside table is the third book in the Bonemender's series - The Bonemender's Choice by Holly Bennett. I was enchanted by the main character Gabrielle in the first book, The Bonemender, and was further wrapped up in her life as she falls in love with an elf and seeks him on the battle field, hoping the next man brought to her for healing is not him in The Bonemender's Oath. In the third book in the series, Gabrielle's niece and nephew are stolen by pirates and while in the pirate stronghold the girl contracts the Grey Veil, a plague like condition that produces a gray membrane that covers the throat and eventually kills. I am about 2/3s of the way through and still don't know if Gabrielle's healing powers will be able to save her or not. I love how close knit Gabrielle's family is and how they have even taken into their own one of the enemy (from the second book) after Gabrielle heals his battle injuries. He and his lady love help rescue the kids. A wonderful fantasy series to offer to JH and HS age girls. Girls who love Tamora Pierce's books would like Bennett's as well. I am hooked. When the box of Orca books came in, I reached for this one first.

All for today.

I wish I were one of those people who could work well in small chunks of time. I do fine with finishing household chores like that, but not actual work. Knowing I have to leave for a doctor's appointment shortly makes it impossible for me to concentrate on much as I need time to settle in to what I am doing - be it grading, writing a review, a booktalk, etc. So I deal with email, which takes much too much of our time these days, and little things. Lately, my whole life has been been broken up into little chunks of time with physical therapy three times a week, virtual meetings, etc. getting in the way of long blocks of time to work.

I was reading Jim Arnosky's book - Whole Days Outdoors: An Autobiographical Album and wish I could be like that. He writes and/or draws for a bit and then goes outside and does something and then goes back to it. This short autobiography is a delight to read and one to share with boys and I think many males work better with short blocks of time and different activities. I lose my train of thought and my flow if I am interrupted in the middle of something. I guess it is a good thing I work from home most of the time as I am easily distracted. When I am working I look up and it may be an hour or more later. If my body didn't insist on bathroom breaks (too often as I consume large amount of diet coke and water) I could sit and work for hours. But, I need to know I have those hours to work without having to stop for an appointment, etc. I guess we all work differently.

Speaking of boys - elementary and MS libraries have to get a copy of The Boys' Book: How to be the Best at Everything by Dominique Enright and Guy MacDonald. Guys loves to read tidbits of information and this book is perfect for the boys who can't sit still to read. There are short, one of two pages, sets of directions on everything from how to do an ollie, see through your hand, play the toilet paper roll, race stick boats, read someone's mind, juggle, etc. You name it - the directions are here. I love the Note to Readers - "The publisher and authors disclaim any liability for accidents or injuries that may occur as a result of information given in this book." Boys will be boys. I remember the story of one of my brothers breaking his shoulder blade, falling while trying to roll a barrel and then another brother doing the same thing. Perhaps to prove it could be done. I cannot believe my mother once said I was more trouble to raise than all three boys combined. She must have forgotten by then some of their childhood antics!!

I finished Stephanie Meyer's Eclipse this weekend. It was patiently waiting for me to finish review books first. Although I enjoyed it as much as the first two, Twilight and New Moon, I did get a bit tired of Bella's hysterical outbursts. She is an emotional mess, but then again I am sure I would be if I were about to be married, for eternity, to a vampire and was also, but just a little bit less, in love with the werewolf I once thought of as my best friend. I did like the dynamics between the vampires and werewolves and impatiently wait for book four. Meyer has me hooked just as she does thousands of tween and teenage girls.

That's it for today - time to jump in the car and head to the doctor's. Hope he has some good news for me.

Bummer - we didn't get very many trick-or-treaters last night. Had to chuckle over the teenage guy with the bandanna over his face and in his regular street clothes with a pillow case. His buddy stood in our driveway, acting embarrassed. Mostly little pirates this year, even girl pirates. And princesses, of course. We had one large group of kids show up and one of the little guys (about 6 or 7) asked me if we were watching Blade, which we were. This is a pretty darn violent vampire killer movie with Wesley Snipes. What kind of parent allows a kid that young to watch this movie? He recognized it just from the background noise as he waited at the door for his candy! But, now we have bags and bags of candy left and it is calling to me - at least the stuff I can eat is!!

I was almost embarrassed to be watching that movie while kids were coming up to the door last night as it is so kid inappropriate, but they couldn't see the screen from the door. It is funny how I enjoy vampire movies, and the series we have had on TV, including the new one on Friday nights after Ghost Whisperer - can't think of the name of it at the moment - but a vampire detective is pretty cool and the actor isn't hard on the eyes either. :-) I am one of those people who cannot watch slasher movies or many of the other horror movies that have "real" people in them, but the supernatural ones don't bother me anywhere as much. When the stake goes in - that isn't a real person being killed. I still turn my head a lot - heck, I turn my head when Ducky is doing an autopsy on my favorite show, NCIS. I don't mind a scare now and then, but I want it on my terms! Guess this is all on my mind as I just started reading the third Meyer's book Eclipse. Bella is certainly caught between two supernaturals - a werewolf and a vampire - both of whom love her. I laughed out loud when Jacob, the werewolf, indignantly tells her, "At least I'm human!"

Not anywhere as scary, but I think I will wait a few years before I give a copy to my 4-year-old grandson Michael, is Graeme Base's (a.k.a. Rowland W. Greasebeam, B.Sc.) The Discovery of Dragons: New Research Revealed. It is a reissue of the 1996 edition with a new section on New World dragons. I love this book! Although younger kids will enjoy looking at the stunning full-page illustrations of Base's gorgeous, gross, weird dragons from Europe, Asia, the Tropics and the New World, tweens and teens will be the ones who "get" the humor of the letters written by the explorers in each region. Being Scandinavian probably added to the delight for me, but the letters from Bjorn of Bromme to his bad-tempered cousin, Olaf the Grim, are a hoot. Adding to the humorous text are wonderful "comic strips" along the bottom of the page that add depth to the tales. This is a gotta have book in elementary through high school. Today's teens are very much visual learners and we need to take that into account - purchasing as many age appropriate picture book formatted books as possible. Put this one near the graphic novel or fantasy section and the teens will be eating it up. Oh yeah - it was really cool - in Constantine, Keanu Reeve's exorcist character has a tool of some kind that contained dragon's breath.

Okay, on to other work for the day - like finding the top of my desk, which hasn't been visible for the entire month of October!