We are back from a fruitless attempt to get in for a massage today. Three tries and I was ready to come back home to my heating pad! But Steve was so wonderful to drive me all over the island checking for openings. We should have known better during high season. It seemed to take forever to get back home as traffic is terrible this time of year. We were chuckling about the woman walking back from KMart pulling an empty suitcase with the labels still on it. Guess she got carried away with her shopping. :-)

While at Midwinter I went to the teen input session of the Best Books for Young Adults Committee meeting. There were 75 teens there from ages 12 to 17. It was surprising to see so many older teens as it is often a group of younger teens. Many of them were extremely articulate and had strong reasons for liking or disliking particular titles. I had not read yet read Stephanie Meyer's Twilight, but after listening to the teen input I knew I had to. My wonderful fellow YALSA member and friend Julie Scordato had sent me an ARC when it first came out but she got the envelope back - empty. Someone else had a great reading experience! So when I stopped at the Little Brown booth Victoria Stapleton gave me a copy of it. Now I know why the teens and most of the YA librarians I have talked to loved this book. What wonderful vampire romance. I didn't think any vampire book could topple Annette Curtis Klause's The Silver Kiss from the top of my list, but Twilight did.

Bella moves to Forks to live with her father even though she hates the cloudy and rainy NW weather. She loves the dry heat of Phoenix, but with her mother remarried to a baseball player who travels she knows she is in the way so she moves in with her quiet father, who is the chief of police. Bella makes new friends and has three guys wanting to go out with her, but she is fascinated by Edward Cullen, her incredibly attractive and remote biology partner. At first he acts like he is furious with her. He looks at her with eyes so black they are bottomless - eyes filled with anger and hatred. Bella is totally taken aback, but still strangely attracted to him. Edward is gone for days and when he returns he begrudgingly begins to talk to her. But it is when he saves her from being crushed by an out of control car in the HS parking lot that Bella realizes that there is something very different about Edward. Instead of killing him, the van that hit him is dented from where he held it back from crushing them. It doesn't take long for Bella to put the legends of local natives together with the knowledge that Edward does not eat to detetmine that he is not human. Even when he admits he is a vampire Bella does not run in terror. Yes, Edward is a vampire, but she is in love with him. Their relationship slowly grows as Bella learns more about Edward and his family. Some critics have said the middle part of the book drags a bit. If you are reading this as a vampire tale only, it does. But, if you are reading it as a romance as well, it doesn't. Edward and Bella have to form a strong enough love and bond to keep them together when the Tracker finds Bella and Edward must save her, without killing her himself. At 498 pages this is not a quick read but it is still on Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers and I agree that it should be there. Reluctant readers can read, they choose not, but a book like this will get even the most reluctant teen reader involved.

All for now.

Second day from the feather bed. GRRRR!! Steve wants to go to a play at the historical theater in Tillet Gardens tomorrow night so this darn herniated disk had better settle down. Besides, I don't want to miss my 1/2 of a Shipwreck burger tomorrow for lunch. The remodeling is gorgeous and there are now TVs all over the place with at least one of them playing a music concert DVD. I like those better than the soccer, which is always on the big screen. Some woman won $20,000 on the slots in there two weekends ago. Have yet to try them out myself though. Just isn't the same as playing nickle slots with my Mom at the Indian casinos in Upper Michigan.

Was looking through the 2006 YALSA lists and see that John Coy's Crackback is on the Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers list http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/quickpicks/06qp.htm
Although I watch football with Steve every weekend and we had season's passes to the Texans before we left Houston, I am still a football novice and did not know what a crackback is. After reading it is a nasty type of hit in football I am very glad I only watch the game. I do miss sitting in our seats at the Texan's games. It was as much fun to people watch as it was to watch the game, especially the Sunday we had a wannabe model type in front of us by a few rows with low rise jeans and a tank top on. I'd say quite a few of the guys around us missed seeing a play or two! Watching them was quite entertaining! :-)

Back to Coy's novel about Miles, a football player who loves the game but not enough to buy into the BS the over zealous new coach is dishing. Miles is smart enough to see beyond the narrow sighted world the coach and some of the players live in, including Miles' best buddy, Zach. When Miles refuses to take the steroids Zach and many of the other players are taking to bulk up he finds himself pretty much alone in the locker room. Life isn't any easier at home as his father was once a college football player and praising Miles for anything he does on the field, even a great play, isn't within his capabilities. And when Miles has to run laps for thinking on his own and running a play the coach didn't call his father knows about it. There is no where for Miles to hide from his father's disapproval and verbal abuse in their small town. His mother and little sister avoid much of his anger be lowering their eyes and becoming mute, but Miles is a constant target. It isn't until a class assignment causes Miles to ask questions about his family that Miles learns the secret his family has been hiding for years - a secret that has helped make his father the angry and quiet man he is. Now Miles must decide what he will do with the information and how it will affect his relationship with his father. Offer this one to those jocks who are only reading a novel because they have to. They may just find out they are finishing this one because they want to! :-)

I have always been into knight and dragon stories. Never wanted to be a damsel in distress about to be eaten by a nasty dragon and saved by a knight. I wanted to be the feisty girl who befriended the dragon instead. So I found a new favorite picture book called The Knight Who Took All Day by James Mayhew. You may recognized Mayhew because of his highly acclaimed prehistoric picture book called Boy. His newest picture book for Scholastic is humorous both textually, with the adjectives (terrible, marvelous, gloomy, etc.) in bold print, and illustratively, telling my favorite part of the story about the princess. While the knight is busy making his squire run up and down 101 steps to get his armor for him, the princess is donning hers and has already tamed the dragon (children are happily riding on him) before the knight arrives intent on a fight. The disgruntled knight trudges back to the castle while the princess marries the squire and they ride off on the dragon to see the world. My kind of dragon book and certainly my kind of princess!

All for today.

I am blogging via the laptop from the feather bed with a heating pad on my back. Who knew picking up lots of ARCs (Advance Reading Copies of new books) could be dangerous? Well, I should have since I have a "little problem" with a herniated disk, but a bad back was not going to stop me from hauling those books home. I could have mailed them but I would have been waiting for over 2 months for the books like I did last Midwinter. I probably would have been fine if I had set the alarm correctly and not woke up an hour and 1/2 before my flight went out. My suitcases looked like monkeys had packed them! I am lucky the only thing I forgot in the room was my phone charger. I was yanking the two suitcases full of books and a few clothes down the hall as fast as I could when I felt the "pop" in my back and I knew I was in trouble, but I was going to make that flight no matter what. And so were my books! Thank goodness the airport is only 15 minutes away from downtown San Antonio. As Steve was grunting while loading my suitcases into the car he told me it was clear I had "sacrificed" filling my suitcases with mall bargains for books! I sure did and the books I didn't pay for! It was like Christmas unpacking them.

The cat and I read Patrick Jones' Nailed yesterday. Sophie loves the heating pad! This is one gutsy book about a teen who has been struggling to find his inner strength. Yes, non-violence is good, but by not standing up for himself, long-tinted-haired grunge dressing Brett is called less than macho names, especially by the jocks. His life revolves around quietly resisting and rebelling against his angry father and playing music with his buddies Alex and Sean. Then petite and worldly Kylee steps into his life when they both work on the same play together. Kylee is rebelling in her own way and wants to be the center of Brett's world, that is until she gets bored with him having other things to do in his life than spend all his time with her and moves on to her next conquest, Sean. Brett is devastated and for the first time turns to his Dad for help. Brett isn't through rebelling and a speech before the student body results in ACLU lawyers becoming involved. But when Brett and Alex step out on the loading dock behind the school during the Prom, Brett realizes now is the time he has to stand up for himself, even if he is physically beaten into the cement by the jocks. The message about the nail that sticks out the farthest gets hammered hardest is a bit heavy at times, but this is a book that all teens should read, conformists and non-conformists alike. Certainly had me thinking about what is "normal" in the world of today's teens.

Did you know that Ann M. Martin's The Baby-Sitters Club are back? But this time in graphic novel format, with Raina Telgemeier doing the b/w illustrations. They are a Scholastic Graphix series so now a whole new generation of upper elementary and middle school girls can read about the antics of 7th grade Mary Anne, Kristy, Stacey, and Claudia. I think the 4th -6th grade girls will love them.

All for now.

Have been running around here like a chicken with my head cut off trying to pack, grade, and catch up on email, etc. before I leave for San Antonio tomorrow. ALA Midwinter here I come! I already have my time pretty much booked with meetings I have to attend and those I would like to attend as well as publisher functions in the evening. Can't wait to catch up with YALSA friends and see my colleagues from ECU. Hopefully my plane isn't late tomorrow so I can go to dinner with them.

Wow! There is a huge Carnival cruise ship going by. It looks like a moving hotel with all the rooms lit up. They are so pretty at night. But, I am looking forward to being on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. It is one of my favorite places to be in Texas. And I am going to have real Texas fajitas. That is the one food I really miss from Texas. They can't make them work squat down here. It is in the 70s in San Antonio during the day but I did pack a light coat as it will get cold at night. I remember one Midwinter in San Antonio that was bitter cold. We were all bundled up in wool coats, scarves and gloves.

I finally found my copy of Poison by Chris Wooding. It was worth searching for! What a fantastic fantasy about a girl who renames herself Poison after her mother dies and her stepmother has made it very evident that she is bug in the ointment, so to speak. So when her little sister is snatched by the phaeries Poison enters the Phaerie realm to insist she be given back. But, the Phaerie Lord is not to be trusted. Even though she steals the dagger from the queen of spiders, the price for her sister's freedom, the Phaerie Lord insists he didn't receive it. What a journey Poison and her friends go on to get the dagger only to have it magically snatched from them. What Poison discovers about herself and her role in the phaerie world proves to be worth all the trials she, and her friends, endure. I was "itchy" while reading the part about Poison crawling across the huge spider web. I detest spiders! What a creepy, gruesome read. I loved every moment of it. Poison is one strong willed young woman - a great teen character with a zest for adventure. :-)

That's it. I need to relax a bit before I call it a day. The alarm is going to go off early tomorrow morning and I am going to get nervous like I always do before I fly out of here. I have three layovers between here and San Antonio and am dreading any late planes. No postings until I get back next week - hopefully with lots of great ARCS.

My brain has not wrapped itself around the reality that I basically "lost" a day. Last night I was contentedly working on a cross-stitch Christmas ornament and watching a show on Lincoln on the History Channel with Steve. I was thinking about how I would enjoy today (which I thought was Monday - even though I should have realized it couldn't be as we wouldn't have gone to the dentist on Sunday) catching up on grading and going through my warmer clothes in preparation for my trip to San Antonio. Crawling into bed I realized today was Tuesday and it is my Montessori day. I have been "out of sorts" ever since. I hate losing a day in my mind!

To top that off my impression of Lincoln is not what it used to be. I could have done without knowing that he frequented ladies of the night and that he slept with soldiers, even lending them his nightshirts.

I was also coming down from the adrenalin shock of having a cavity filled without novacaine. I thought I was going in to get my teeth cleaned and the dentist was under the impression I was in for a bad tooth. Unbeknownst to me I had a cavity on a back molar and before I knew it he was drilling and filling. I think I still have the fingernail marks on my arm from digging my nails into it to keep from coming out of the chair while he drilled away without numbing it. I walked out of there on shaky legs. Took a buffalo burger and a Corona to calm me down! In other words - a lot happened on my "lost" day - most of it either quite weird, or downright painful!

Most people think of the Shadow Children series when Margaret Peterson Haddix comes up. I am not a big fan of that series, but I just read The House on the Gulf, again a book where the title isn't quite right. The house isn't on the gulf - Britt and her family have to lug their stuff about 4 blocks to get to the Florida beach. Britt may be only 12 and her 16 year old brother Bran basically her dad since her own father left when she was 5, but Britt knows that he isn't his usual self. It all started when he said they had a housesitting job for the summer for the elderly couple whose lawn he had been cutting. They were going north for the summer and they were to housesit for them. When Bran removes all of the Marquis' belonging, pictures, etc. out of the house Britt knows things aren't right. He has a lock on the closet door he has their stuff stored in and he keeps checking the electricity meter. Britt is also bored so she starts running errands for the old people in the neighborhood and becomes friends with the lonely woman next door. Britt wants nothing more than loving grandparents and she figured out that Bran has found her mother's parents and they are in their home. But, things don't turn out quite the way Bran had expected. And Britt learns that families can be created by more than blood bonds. A very touching Middle School read.

For fun browsing and quick tidbits to amazing friends with, check out Scholastic's Book of Firsts: More than 1,000 of the Coolest, Biggest, and Most Exciting First Facts You'll Ever Read by James Buckley, Jr. Did you know that the first American supermarket chain was the Piggly Wiggly? It opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee. I remember the first time I went to one with my older brother when he moved to Lower Michigan. I giggled every time I said it! What doesn't entertain a little girl who grew up in the backwoods of Upper Michigan!

Off to Montessori!

A cloudy Martin Luther King Jr. Day here. Lucky us - our dentist is open today! Both Steve and I have appointments. I have disliked dentists since I was a little kid and threw up every time I had to go through those nasty fluoride treatments. I shudder remembering the taste of that stuff. And, it isn't like I don't have a mouth full of fillings anyway!

You know how you loved a movie and wasn't at all impressed with the sequel. Happens with books too. I loved Cherry Whytock's My Cup Runneth Over but am not impressed with the sequel My Scrumptious Scottish Dumplings. It is partially because of the cover and the title. The cover art shows the bottom of a girl's face, which looks nothing like the drawings of Angel, the chubby main character, that Whytock includes in the book. Also, the huge "dumplings" in the pot look like mounds of mashed potatoes. The British title - Angel: Haggis Horrors and Heavenly Bodies is so much better and indicative of the story. Let's just say there is not Scottish scrumptious anything. After a trip to Scotland and the factory that makes the haggis, Angel's eccentric father, Potty, decides to picket Harrods because of their bogus haggis - a Scottish dish consisting of a mixture of the minced heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep or calf mixed with suet, onions, oatmeal, and seasonings and boiled in the stomach of the slaughtered animal. (from Webster.com) He is arrested and horrors - the family is banned from Harrods. How can that be for an ex model mother and a cooking crazy daughter who wear out their shoes between their front door and Harrods? At a 169 pages, with lots of white space and many drawings, this is a very quick read and lacks the flavor of the first Angel book. Recipes are still included, but not one for Scottish dumplings. Oh - the heavenly body is the chef at the spa her mother insists she go to - where Angel spends her time in kitchen cooking. Only Angel can gain weight at a spa! I love this character, just not this book.

For the itty bit crowd, try I Will Kiss You (Lots & Lots & Lots) by Stoo Hample. A cute book for Valentines day - about a mommy bunny kissing her baby "on the floor, in the air, and I'll kiss your teddy bear" etc. With the romping silly rhyme this will be loved by little ones at bed time. The rhythm and rhyme remind me of a Dr. Seuss book. Sadly, no babies in the family anymore to read to sleep. This one is too cutesy for my 4 year old grandson.

Off to dentist. GRRR!! Hope that isn't the sound of a drill!

Just about the beginning of a three day weekend, which means island roads will be busier than ever. Steve and I stopped to listen to the Mighty Whitey sing for a bit on the way home last night. He always has a story or two along with the music. Found out where the title of the song, American Pie, came from. The song is about Buddy Holly and the small plane that he went down in was named American Pie. Oh the things you learn from island troubadours! :-) Then one of the other local singers got up and sang some crazy song that is always sung at Italian weddings and wanted us to sing along - in Italian. Add to that a sing along to The Lion Sleeps Tonight. I was laughing so hard I was crying!

You know those books you just can't put down. I just finished one this morning. I was going to read for an hour - well, I read until I finished it. Tell Me What You See by Zoran Drevenkar is one of the most deliciously creepy books I have read in ages. It crawled into my head like the purple haired plant that grew out of the dead little boy's body in the crypt. If only Alissa hadn't fallen into that very crypt when she and her best friend Evelin where at the cemetery late at night visiting Alissa's father's grave. What possessed Alissa to open the tiny coffin and find the plant is weird enough, but the plant "convinced" her to pluck it from the dead boy's chest and then ingest it herself. As much as she tried to vomit it out, it was still there and changed what Alissa saw. No one else could see them, not even Evelin, no matter how hard she tried. Why did it have to be Simon, the ex-boyfriend stalking Alissa, that saw them? What did she do to him when he forced her to kiss him? Did she give him the ability to see them? Drevenkar pulls the reader deeper and deeper into this suspense filled supernatural/spiritual story of a German teenager grieving the loss of her father and the addition of a little brother to her new family. Let me tell you what I see - one extremely well written and translated YA novel that I am going to recommend to everyone I see who loves a creepy but well written read! I could feel myself shivering as I sat in the canoe in the middle of the ice filled river while Alissa and Evelin sought them out. Oh what a delicious shiver of anticipation it was!

Okay - creepy to the common place. Many of us grew up with Curious George or our own kids did. The movie came out in the theaters this month and the movie tie books hit the stores at the same time. My favorite of the three is Meet Curious George. The subtitle states: "A picture reader". To me it is a rebus book, with fun pictures of bananas, cars, taxis, yellow hats, etc. in place of the words, so early readers can read it themselves. Not that I love movie tie in books, but I am into any way to get kids reading, even it is about their favorite movie character, who may have been their dad's favorite book character as a child.

Now to work on writing an exam for the children's literature and materials course I am teaching this semester. I am so glad ECU uses Blackboard - I am such a fan of this easy to use online teaching software after struggling with WebCT.

It is 10:30 a.m. and just now a cruise ship is coming in. I can see the pilot boat out there waiting for him. Odd at this time of the day. We had 5 ships in yesterday and Steve decided he wanted to watch one of them navigate between St. Thomas and Water Island as it left Crown Bay. So we sat on the balcony of the Oasis, a restaurant and bar in a building that used to be the Russian consulate years ago (or at least that is what I over heard someone say last night). It was a sight to see. The ship looked huge as it came through the passage between the islands. Beautiful to watch the lights fade out into the ocean. Was a relaxing way to end the day. Then we went out for dinner in Frenchtown and I made the mistake of ordering the spicy pasta. The waitress warned me, but I went for it anyway. Bad mistake, even though it was delicious. So hot that I drank two bottles of water while I ate it and my lips and mouth were on fire. That was nothing compared to the indigestion I got from it later! Let's just say the bland Finnish food I grew up with sounds really good on my poor sore tummy right now.

Have had an interest in translated titles for children and teens as of late. So I picked up An Innocent Soldier by Josef Holub (born in Bohemia and lived through WWII). The title page indicates Russlander English. Holub's writing is certainly not overly descriptive or sentimental in any way. The narrator is an uneducated farm hand who is conscripted into the military in place of the farmer's own son. Adam becomes George in a matter of minutes and finds himself fighting in Napoleon's Grande Armee as they march across Europe to conquer Russia. Well, the Russian weather and lack of supplies conquers Napoleon's great army. Adam keeps himself and his lieutenant alive through the worst of conditions. There are no pretty words here and rightfully so as Holub starkly portrays the brutality of this war and the corruption within the ranks of the army. Although Holub's abrupt style of writing caught me off guard a number of times, I was swept into his tale of a frail 16-year-old boy fighting to keep himself and his rich young lieutenant alive as the world was being blown apart or freezing to death around around them. Give this one to the boys who liked Paulsen's Soldier's Heart.

One of the small publishers I watch closely is Illumination Arts out of Bellevue, WA. Their books are visual delights. Heidi Cole, the mother of a bi-racial child, has written Am I a Color Too? to addresses a young boy's questions about why people focus on skin color rather than who we are inside. "My dad, my mom, and me... Black, White, and am I a color too? I think I'm just a person, A person just like you." The text is thought provoking, but the beautiful illustrations of children and adults of every color are breath taking. I find myself flipping through this book again and again, enjoying the variety of smiling faces.

All for now, need to make my airline reservations for a trip to Greenville in February. I will be presenting a booking session at a conference, which I love to do.

Happy Three Kings' Day! It is a VI Holiday so schools and government offices are out today. So far not a great beach day for the locals who have the day off, but most of us think the water is too cold this time of the year. It is mostly tourists you see in the water during the winter. There is a parasail boat out in the bay right now. Haven't done that but I think it would be fun, even though I am a bit afraid of heights.

We watched an old Christian Slater movie last night - Untamed Hearts. A delightful Christmas romance story about a reclusive young man with a congenital heart condition (he thinks he has a baboon's heart) and a wild waitress who has had, and lost, way too many boyfriends. Adam is in love, actually obsessed, with Carolina. Because he follows her home from the restaurant they both work at, he arrives in time to stop her from being raped in the park. Slater has such expressive eyes. Mic loved Pump Up the Volume - I don't even want to think about the number of times we watched that movie. Wonder what Slater is doing now - can't think of a recent movie I have seen him in.

Also watched a quite interesting movie that came in the wrong envelope from Blockbuster. We hadn't heard of Almost Normal, so we weren't expecting anything in particular when we put it in the DVD player, but what a surprise. A gay 40 year old professor crashes his car into a tree and wakes up back in high school, but in this dream the norm is gay couples and heterosexuals are called breeders and are beat up and abhorred. Interesting to consider. Best line in the movie - "When you accept yourself as you are, that's when you are normal." Not a well made movie by any means, but it certainly makes you think.

Finished the second book in the Mitford Series, A Light in the Window, by Jan Karon. Who would have thought I would enjoy these novels about an aging rector and his life in a small mountain town in North Carolina. The fact that his new wife is a children's book author/illustrator adds to the appeal, as does Dooley, the teenage boy who lives with Father Tim.

I commented yesterday about not liking the cover for Revolt. Well, I love the cover on David Klass' Dark Angel. It is as dark and thought provoking as this multi-layered look into the family dynamics when the convicted murderer is released from prison after serving 6 years of a life sentence and returns home. Jeff's "normal" life is thrown into turmoil as his girlfriend's family no longer wants him dating their daughter and the other students talk about his murderer brother. Jeff's parents want to give Troy the benefit of the doubt and are totally taken in by Troy's act of being reformed. Jeff thinks his brother is evil, plain and simple. And, he is sure Troy is involved when Fraser, Jeff's rival on the soccer field, disappears. The question - can someone be pure evil? Troy sets out to discover what role his brother plays in Fraser's disappearance, but has no idea what he will do with the answers when he finds them. A definite guy book! Pulls you in and doesn't let you go until the end, if then. Klass is a gifted author of thought provoking YA novels for the older teen reader, with tremendous guy appeal. My favorite is still California Blue, about a runner who discovers a unknown species of butterfly in an area that is about to be logged. Ecology vs. economy and then some. Also, You Don't Know Me blew me out of the water with the intensity of the yearning and pain felt by a young man being abused by his mother's boyfriend. And Danger Zone, a look into reverse discrimination as a white basketball player joins an all black team that will play around the world. In other words - I think Klass is one of the best YA authors we have to offer to the older teen reader.

That's it for today.

I am marking it on my day planner - at slightly before 4 p.m. on Thursday, January 5th, I brought up my first course for East Carolina University on Blackboard! Yahoo - the course site is ready to go so I now really feel like a part of the Library Science and Instructional Technology Department. Can't wait to work with the ECU LS graduate students. I am teaching a Books and Other Media for Children and Young Adults course, much to my delight. I had fun designing the course assignments and discussion boards. This is my first semester with ECU - I am a Visiting Associate Professor, still teaching from down here in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but we will be finding a place to live in Greenville, North Carolina come summer time. Greenville is such a pretty town and it isn't far from the Outer Banks! How can I miss - spending part of my time in lovely Greenville and and part of it in the tropical Virgin Islands. I'm getting excited about wearing more than tank tops and shorts all the time.

To celebrate getting the course online, I munched a few of the delicious dark chocolate kisses that I have "hidden" in the refrigerator so I don't scarf them down all at once. (Lara - thank you for these delicious goodies - the calories are worth it!) They are so good cold and last a little bit longer. Add that caffeine to the Diet Coke I am drinking and I should be pretty animated by the time poor Steve gets home from work and is ready to relax!

On to books! I don't care for the cover of the third book in Gloria Skurzynski's The Virtual War Chronologs. I enjoyed the first book, Virtual War, with the cartoon like cover. I could create in my own mind what genetically engineered Corgan looked like. Let's just say the dark-haired Corgan I created in my mind looks nothing like the teenage guy on the front of Revolt. What irritated me even more was the abrupt ending to the book - clearly there is a book 4 coming. Yup - it is called The Choice. Anyway, Corgan escapes from the Wyo-DC (Wyoming Dome City) and crashes an old plane into the ocean by the Florida dome city since there was no opening to put a plane down in. The robotics retrieved both him and the clone Cyborg before the mutant sea creatures got them. But Corgan isn't safe from Cyborg's clone twin Brigand. Brigand and Cyborg can read each other's thought and Cyborg knows his brother is on his way and plans to kill Corgan. So it is time for Corgan to escape again and this time it is into space and up to the Space Station, where no one is sure anyone is still alive, but Thebos, the aging scientist who helped create the spacecrafts that flew to the space station thinks there is a scientist there who can keep rapidly aging Cyborg alive. Corgan is an arrogant, self centered teen in this third installment, but his attitude is not surprising considering what he has been through since he fought for and won the only piece of uncontaminated land during the Virtual War. Offer this series to the guys who like Ender's Game.

The next holiday that will be upon us before we know it is Valentine's Day. Kids will love Barbara Samuels' Happy Valentine's Day, Dolores. I chuckled at Samuel's expressive illustrations of both Dolores and her cat Duncan. Poor Duncan - he is one accepting cat, even while having catsup squeezed on him so that Dolores can convince herself it is an emergency so she and Duncan can get a taxi and go to the Broadway Animal Hospital. In reality, she has to go to the store, Heart Etc. that is near the pet hospital and buy a froggie necklace in a heart shaped box since she lost the one she "borrowed" from her older sister Faye's dresser drawer. That Dolores, she just can't seem to keep out of her big sister's things, but sisters love each other - no matter what. What a fun book!

Okay - now to finish putting away the Christmas decorations! I should have left the tree up as tomorrow is a Holiday down here - Three Kings Day. Steve has the day off! :-) Excuse my typos - can't get the spellchecker to work without losing my postings.

Woke up to what sounds like ping pong balls dropping onto the floor above our bedroom ceiling. Been hearing this off and on since we moved here but have yet been able to figure it out. The owner is out of town and we still hear it. Reminds me of Captain Kangaroo, bunny, and moose and ping pong balls that would fall from the ceiling. Boy am I old!

No yachts out in the bay today. Jimmy Buffett was here on one of his boats a couple of weeks ago. A friend of Steve's who works at a marina told him, but we never saw Buffett or his boat/yacht. We stopped at Sop Choppies about the same time and the bartender said Kenny Chesney and Kid Rock had been in for drinks that past weekend. We old folks are long in bed before the celebrities hit the bars. Lots of celebrities visit the VI but I have yet to see one. Even John Travolta has come through with his private jet. Now he is a celebrity I wouldn't mind meeting. :-)

Was going through my book shelves and found a copy of Connie May Fowler's Before Women Had Wings, that I bought several years ago, but never got around to reading. Fowler is a gifted writer and her use of innocent 8-year-old Bird as the narrator of this tale of family suicide and abuse makes this novel so raw and painful that a couple of times I closed it and walked away for a bit before I went back to it. Bird tries so hard to be as perfect and quiet as she can, but as a bright young child that isn't always possible and she bears the physical and emotional scars from the lashings she receives from both the belts and tongues of her alcoholic parents. Bird begs the Jesus in the dime store picture her Catholic mother put on the wall to help her family but to no avail. After her father has her mother beaten up to "keep her at home" and then shoots himself, Bird and her older sister find themselves living in a travel trailer with their bitter and angry mother. Bird's savior comes in the form of Miss Zora, an eccentric black woman. My heart still hurts for Bird, even though my head knows she is a fictional character. However, her life is all too real for many children.

Before Women Had Wings is the perfect example of the adult novel with a child protagonist, that certainly is not meant for a child reader. The themes are adult and the language is strong. It reminds me a bit of This is Graceanne's Book by P.L. Whitney in which the narrator is young Charlie, who adores his 12 year old sister GraceAnne. She is the target of abuse by her alcoholic mother, but Graceanne is one strong willed girl and her love for life is stronger than the belt. Whitney's descriptive writing is so beautiful that the Mississippi river stands out as a character itself. I would recommend both of these books to older teens, but they are certainly not YA novels.

On a brighter note - I also read Michael Dooling's delightful picture book biography, Young Thomas Edison. After hard-of-hearing Edison was called addled by his teacher, his mother - once a teacher herself- homeschooled Edison, where he read widely and experimented in his home lab for hours. Always looking for money for his lab equipment, Edison began selling newspapers on a train - that is until he set fire to the baggage car, where he had a mobile lab set up. Biographies can often be quite boring to children, but this one is interesting and funny. Dooling visited the locations he writes about and this is clear in the detail and authenticity of the high quality illustrations. A top notch addition to any children's biography section.

Back to working on Spring course syllabi.

What a gorgeous day out there. Two dive boats out by the rocks, a yacht, 2 catamarans, and a mono-hull sailboat passing by. There were several jet skiers earlier. Makes me nervous to see them in the same area as the ferries going to St. John and Tortola.

I should have never made the comment about wishing for another day with both of us home. Poor Steve - he ended up having a relapse of the flu and came home Tuesday early afternoon and spent most of the last two days sleeping or looking miserable on the couch. I haven't caught it yet, but he had the air so cold last night I now have an aching upper back from the cold air blowing on it. I feel like I have an invisible neck brace on to keep my head still or my back twinges. Whine! Whine! Whine!

But, I did finish Melissa De La Cruz's second Au Pairs title, Skinny-Dipping while I lay on the heating pad for a bit this a.m.. Talk about a vicarious look into the rich and bratty in the Hamptons during a summer of smoozing with the celebrities, drinking, and hooking up. The reader gets swept up into the club and rich family scene that Eliza, Mara, and Jacqui are involved in. Eliza decides to work in the hottest club in the Hamptons and discovers that babysitting the celebrities is a lot harder than babysitting the filthy rich Perry kids, which she had done the summer before with Mara and Jacqui. Eliza is replaced by Philippe, a lazy, but delicious to look at piece of French eye candy. After a summer of misunderstandings, reality checks, and a hurricane - Eliza, Mara, and Jacqui rekindle their shaky friendship with plans for a third summer in the Hamptons. I just hope the teens who read about the Au Pairs can see beyond the Versace dresses and BMWs to how shallow this life can be. Mara's 15-minutes of fame as the It-Girl and her painful tumble back to reality is the best part of the story. My heart also went out to little Madison Perry - 11 years old and already weighing a chicken breast and worrying about her weight. Guess she is trying to be like her big sisters, Sugar and Poppy.

The reception Mara got after she fell from fame is as cold as the Arctic setting for Cold Paws, Warm Heart by Madeleine Floyd. What a delightful winter storytime option, with a "cool" message. Floyd states the the book came about after she painted a picture of a polar bear being offered a cup of hot chocolate - a random act of kindness that is just right for a polar bear! After reading about the nasty things the rich brats do to each other I was happy to spend some time savoring this picture book about an unlikely friendship between a very lonely and cold polar bear and a little girl who was enchanted by the lonely bear's flute music and decides to follow it. The village stories say that no one lived across the ice except for Cold Paws, a polar bear so big and so cold that if you touched him you would turn to ice. But Hannah couldn't resist the music and found Cold Paws, with a gentle smile on his face, playing his flute. But then Cold Paws let out a terrible shiver. Hannah knew what it felt like to be terribly cold and stepped forward and offered the polar bear her scarf. It warmed his heart and body a little bit, but Cold Paws was still COLD!! Hannah had a better idea for warming him up - she returned to teach him jumping jacks. He was pretty clumsy at it but he tried and it did make Hannah laugh and Cold Paws smile, but he was still COLD!! Hannah's third attempt to warm up Cold Paws did the trick - a cup of hot chocolate and a hug. Friendship can be the warmest comforter in the Arctic. :-) Love this book!

That's it for now.

Sophie and I have the apartment back to ourselves - not so sure I am happy about that. I really enjoyed Steve and I being home together on a mini at home vacation. We watched movies and ate! Oh boy did we eat! We pigged out on turkey, ham, and pumpkin/pecan pie. OINK!! I won't even mention the all but the kitchen sink oatmeal cookies I made that didn't last 3 days. We convinced ourselves since there was oatmeal and sugar free applesauce in them they had to be calorie free!

Yesterday was our last day to be lazy so we hit Blockbuster again. I picked Must Love Dogs with Diane Lane and John Cusak (my favorite guy actor). What a fun chick flick. I think Steve even liked it. I fell in love with the Newfoundland called Mother Theresa. Now that is a dog to share a bed with when no guy is around! :-) Then we watched one of Steve's picks. Oh boy! He has this thing for picking really weird and/or pointless movies. The Fortunes fits both - weird and pointless. Let's add boring to it as well! But, when a movie is that bad you hang with it hoping it will have a redeeming scene or two. Well, it had one - the arrogant jerk of the three friends gets hit over the head with a bottle by a midget, for calling him Little Guy. A midget, by the way, who has been in prison four times. They didn't say if it was for attacking other jerks who called him Little Guy or not. It is called Fortunes because the three guys stop at a fortune tellers who tells the married guy that something dreadful is going to happen to his son and he freaks out by being over protective to the extreme. The other guys goes into depression and starts hanging out at topless bars. Anyway - don't bother watching it.

But, I did read a great beach book during the break - The Botox Diaries by Janice Kaplan and Lynn Schnumberger. Chic lit for the middle aged! :-) Two 41 year old best friends - one a high power producer and the other just a regular suburban mom. Midlife crisis hits the happily married producer and she has an affair with a shallow game show type host while level headed best friend is helping produce a child production of My Fair Lady. All around fun beach read for those of us who are past the midriff tops and mini skirt stage in our lives. :-)

Not exactly in the Holiday vein, I also read Todd Strasser's Can't Get There From Here. It is not a pretty happy read by any means of the word, but a must read for any teen who thinks living on the streets is easy or glamorous. Just ask Strasser's street wise but doomed teens who are living on the streets of New York City, dealing with frigid temperatures and dying from alcohol poisoning, strangulation and AIDS. Maybe is the main character - a girl who ran away from an abusive home. It is 12 year-old Tears who makes Maybe look for help. She accepts the help of a public librarian, who in reality should not have opened his office or his home to these girls without calling in the authorities, but I have to remind myself this is a novel. And, he is the one who makes sure Tears is safe with her grandparents and helps Maybe realize that the group home may not be such a bad place after all. Strasser has a way of going for the gut reaction and he does it again in Can't Get There From Here. Is right up there with his Give a Boy a Gun as to books for the reluctant teen reader.

Can't leave this entry on a downer. For a wonderful musical smile check out Niki Daly's Ruby Sings the Blues. I chuckled all the way through this book as I remember my brothers telling me I was too loud. It was the only way I could get attention in a house with three older brothers! Ruby is having problems with her volume control both in the neighborhood and at home. When the kids at school tell her to turn her volume off she does. Ruby has the blues. But, the jazz players miss her booming voice and invite to her to learn how to sing the blues and she is AWESOME!! A wonderful feel good book to give to any little girl who is quite boisterous. Just the thing for our granddaughter Allyson. :-)

By the way - ignore the times it says I post these. For some reason I can't change that anymore and it always wrong! I can assure you I don't post anything at 4 a.m. as one of them listed the time.

The day after Christmas and we are both sitting here with our laptops watching old TV shows. Matlock is on right now. We wallowed in food and movies yesterday. I made both a turkey breast and a ham. We had turkey sandwiches for lunch and ham and the fixings for dinner. We were so full we didn't even get into the pecan pies I made. The law clerk and her boyfriend decided not to come over after all so we will be eating ham and turkey sandwiches and casseroles for days!

We watched The Polar Express in the morning. Other than the somewhat creepy elves I really liked it. Steve gave me the DVD and little Polar Express train for my birthday. I was saving it for Christmas. Then we watched part of Carnivale, the creepy series set in the Depression, about a carnival group with powers beyond what one would expect of carnies. Took a drive downtown to Blockbuster to pick up a couple more movies. We were suprised by the amount of traffic. Thought we were the only crazies out and about. I picked the movie version of of John Grisham's Skipping Christmas. I read it last Christmas and wanted to go see Christmas with the Kranks, but we just didn't get around to it. So when I saw it at Blockbuster I had to see it. I laughed my way through it and loved all the neighborhood lights. Then we watched Kate Hudson in The Skeleton Key, a creepy hoo-doo (Louisiana version of voodoo) movie set outside of New Orleans. The ending gave me the willies.

My last Christmas book for the season - The Golden Ring by John Snyder. What a lovely novel based on the true story the author's grandmother told him about the ring she wore on her little finger. In coal country Pennsylvania in the early 1900s, lived young Anna and her 4 brothers and sisters. Her father worked on the railroad and was caught in a snowstorm on Christmas Eve. While waiting for the snow to stop he finds a golden ring and talks to the woman who is selling it. It is her dead daughter's ring and she must sell it to pay bills. Anna's father buys it and then tells the carollers outside about the woman's plight and they begin to collect money for her. Anna loves her replacement ring - she had given her's away to a family who were down on their luck. A very touching book about the spirit of giving.

I am not a big Seinfeld fan so I didn't have my hopes up as to liking it when I saw a book by Jason Alexander - who plays my least favorite character on that show. But, I like him better as a caring father who comes up with a believable answer to his son's questions about the reality of the tooth fairy in Dad, Are You the Tooth Fairy? The illustrations by Ron Spears are an absolute delight and require several viewings to catch all of the humor that resides in the action and fantasy character packed pages. This is a fun one, and I am glad to see a Dad explaining about fairies.

All for now. I am going make a turkey and cranberry sauce sandwich. Yum!

Merry Christmas Eve! I spent a relaxing morning reading in bed with Sophie purring in my lap. We are headed into town to check the mail one more time - Steve wasn't quite as timely in his online shopping as I was. We'll go to Tickles for lunch as he wants a piece of they key lime pie! I found a great pumpkin and pecan pie recipe I am going to make this afternoon.

Yesterday as I was headed into the kitchen for my second cup of tea the power went out. It was out for 4 hours. I sat outside and read Shelley Hrdlitschka's Sun Signs. As someone who checks out her astrological prediction on the Yahoo web site each day I jumped right in. A very easy read as it is written as emails amongst a group of online students and their teacher, as well as the main character, Kaleigh's "letters"/journal entries to her immortal Gemini twin. Kaleigh is taking Science online because she has cancer and has been going through treatments. She decides to do her science experiment on the validity of astrological daily charts. She enlists three of her fellow online students to read and evaluate their daily charts as to whether they are valid or not. What she does find is that not everyone is who they say they are online. A short and sweet book about a girl coping with her illness and discovering a bit about herself and the other teens she interacts with. A fun read to offer to the girls who love TTYL.

All for now - I hear Steve up and about. He is still suffering from the nasty head cold type flu that is going around.

Lots of activity in the neighborhood this a.m. You can tell it is the Holiday Season - kids outside playing and laughing. Jet skis zipping around the bay, sailboats with happy tourists laughing and singing as they go by. Oh how I love this time of year. My cousin Karen called last night and we talked about our Gramma and when we were kids. She mentioned our very Finnish Gramma's insistence on her lace doilies being just so on the arms of the chairs. Now I know why Steve has nicknamed me Nils (from the Fraizer TV show) - I am persnickety. I think I got it from Gramma!

I am listening to Reba McEntire's Christmas CD as I type. I have many of the country singers' Christmas CDs as they remind me of the Patsy Cline and Lynn Anderson albums my mom used to play when I was a kid. Reba may have written two autobiographical books, but she hasn't delved into the picture book and novel writing as some of the other country musicians have. Have always enjoyed Kenny Rogers' music so I thought his book can't be too bad as it is co- written with Donald Davenport, a screen and television writer. I was right - I really did enjoy Christmas in Canaan. Middle school age DJ needs an attitude adjustment when he can't handle Rodney, a very smart black kid, telling him the right answer on the Social Studies homework assignment he is trying to finish on the bus. They get into a fight at school and as punishment DJ's East Texas farmer Dad decides the two boys need to spend a couple of days in each other's homes. The 24 hour togetherness and DJ and Rodney nursing a shot puppy back to health seals the bonds of a lifelong friendship between the two boys, but that bond is severed for a time when Rodney's mother appears and takes him with her to California where he becomes a writer. He writes and produces plays about his and DJ's life in Canaan, Texas. Having spent time in East Texas I loved this book. For the kids who enjoyed Armstrong's Sounder, or any other boy and his dog books, offer them Christmas in Canaan.

Yesterday I wrote about a book in which the cat had become a guardian angel. Today I am sharing an old favorite from the 1970s, The Christmas Cat by Elfer Tudor Holmes, illustrated by her mother, Tasha Tudor. An abandoned cat is found by the woodsman who feeds the animals on Christmas Eve. He delivers the cat to the farm of young Nate and Jason, who are delighted to wake up and find their new Christmas pet curled up sleeping in a chair by the fireplace. Included is the Gingerbread Animal Cookie recipe for the cookies Jake and Nate had been decorating in the story.

A fun Christmas gift would be both The Christmas Cat and The Tasha Tudor Cookbook: Recipes and Reminiscences from Corgi Cottage for the mom who loves to cook and bake with her kids. I can close my eyes and see my kids with red and green stained fingers and mouths from "helping" me color the frosting for the sugar cookies. One year Mary was on a blue kick and we had more blue Christmas trees and reindeer than we did green or brown ones. :-) They tasted great anyway - the love is the needed ingredient in all Christmas cookies. And, for the rum ball - only Captain Morgan's spiced rum. :-)

Okay - so I should have kept my big mouth shut about the gorgeous Holiday Season weather we were having! Woke up to cloudy skies and now it is raining. Poor tourists! Happy cisterns!

I've always known I have weird dreams, but to wake up with tongue twisters going through my head! How weird is that? Let's hope the rest of this day is not as strange. Here's what was going through my head: Absentminded Amos ate an astounding amount of apples before admitting to an awful abdominal ache. Hmmm - wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that we went to dinner at Bonnie's by the Sea and I had chicken marinara and the garlic in the sauce was playing havoc with me later last night. Even eating Paul Newman's chocolate chip cookies while watching the b/w version of Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire (not the colorized version - not the real thing) didn't distract me from the "abdominal ache"! So I added to the weirdness by having applesauce with my bagel this a.m.!

The atmosphere at Bonnie's was so relaxing. It wasn't very busy so we sat right next to the beach and watched the kids playing in the hammocks set up in the palm trees. Some of the condos had Christmas lights up and so did the nearby Arthur's restaurant. We watched a family come in from their sailboat by dinghy to have dinner. Oh the island life!

While going through my Christmas books I came across my first edition of Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies, published in 1947 by Harcourt Brace. The dust jacket is in bad shape but I couldn't resist it for my Christmas book collection when I saw it in a used bookstore. Trying not to damage it any further, I curled up with it and enjoyed the print version of the story we all know and love as little Susan (Natalie Woods in the original b/w version of the movie) learns the truth about Kris Kringle and how important it is to believe in miracles. The novel was written based on the movie screenplay so there aren't any surprises, but I wasn't expecting any - just a visit with an old friend in a different format. The kids and I used to watch the original version every year and often the newer one with Sebastian Cabot as Kris Kringle. The kids liked it, but I love the old black and white "first editions". Harcourt published a facsimile edition of the 1947 edition in 2001 so it is available to share with your children. There is also an edition with illustrations by Tomie De Paola, but it just isn't the same.

Wish Allyson and MJ were sitting here with me while I just read Karma Wilson's Bear Stays Up - a delightful Christmas eve story about Bear and his friends decorating his cave for Christmas while he fights sleep, but when his friends fall asleep bear cooks and wraps presents while Santa sneaks in and fills the stockings. Bear wakes his friends on Christmas morning to open presents and feast and then they give him a bear sized quilt to bundle up in as he finishes his winter's nap. I fell in love with Bear and his friends in Bear Snores On, which was a bestseller and an ALA Notable book. Wilson also wrote Bear Wants More. These are wonder storytime books as they have such rhythm and rhyme and the illustrations are large enough for the kids to see.

On to working on syllabi for the Spring semester!

Another breezy and beautiful day in the islands. The sailors are having a great time with the breezes - there have been sailboats going to and from Buck Island all day. The day sails go out there snorkeling. I don't remember last December being this beautiful weather wise, but I am not complaining.

Still on my Christmas book reading kick - I grabbed the copy of Avi's The Christmas Rat that had been sitting on my shelf because the idea of a 11 year old boy dealing with a creepy exterminator intent on killing the rat that Eric found in the box of Christmas decorations in the basement of their apartment building didn't sound very cheerful. Well, it isn't! Granted, booktalking this one with boys will get them interested, but I was just creeped out by the militant white haired exterminator whose desire was to kill. He had a bow that shot bolts! Eric does save the Christmas Rat, but who the exterminator turns out to be was just too much for me. Couldn't bend my sense of disbelief around this one, but I do know middle school boys who will delight in this book, just not me. Had to turn on the joyful Christmas music full blast to get the rat poison taste out of my mouth from this one!

On the other hand I snort laughed my way through Roald Dahl's delightful The Vicar of Nibbleswicke, which he wrote for the Dyslexia Institute. Poor young Reverend Lee! He had conquered his unique version of dyslexia until he takes on his first church assignment. His nervousness gets the best of his tongue and he keeps getting words quite backwards. His congregation just thought him a bit eccentric and enjoyed the changes that occurred to words during his doG-fearing sermons. But I don't think the maiden lady Miss Prewt appreciated being called Miss Twerp when he visited her. She slammed the door in his face when he asserted, "I am Eel, Ms. Twerp! I am the new rotsap, the new ravic of Nibbleswicke! Dog help me!" This is only page 23 and I have already woken Steve twice with my snort laughs (problem with reading late at night)! But I had to leave the bedroom when I began to read about the parking problem in front of the church. "It is not only unsightly but it is also dangerous. If you all krap at the same time all along the side of the road you could be hit by a passing car at any time. There is plenty of room for you to do this alongside the church on the south side if you feel you must." Reverend Lee's congregation may have been dumbfounded into silence by their pastor's remarks but this reader was laughing so hard she had tears rolling down here face. I just hope I never come down with a bout of Back-to-Front Dyslexia while I am in front of a class lecturing or presenting at a conference! ;-) This book is 40 pages of Dahl's wit and Quentin Blake's hilarious illustrations.

And on that potty humor note I will conclude!

What a terrible blogger I have been of late. Too much going on at the end of the semester and online Christmas shopping, etc. Here it is the Monday before Christmas and I think I have caught up. I got both snail mail and e-card Christmas greetings sent out and only have a few more packages for Steve to wrap.

Been reading Christmas books, of course. While barcoding and entering MARC records into Destiny at Montessori last week I came across the 1952 edition of Frances Frost's novel version of Gian-Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors. What a lovely look at the Three Kings on their way to greet the Christ Child. They stop for a rest at Amahl's home and the shepherds joined them to entertain the Kings. Amahl's crippled leg is healed and he joins the Kings as they journey on, following the star. One has to love this characterization of Kasper - almost deaf and a bit childlike. Brings a smile to the reader's face, if not a chuckle. Would make a lovely family read aloud for the Holidays. Not sure if it is still in print, but if so, it would be a fine addition to any library, personal or otherwise.

This is the time of the year we also think of angels. A number of years ago, not long after my Mom and son Mic died within months of each other, I visited a psychic at a Renaissance Festival and she told me I had two guardian angels on my shoulder. I just smiled as I already knew that - Mom and Mic! Steve and I went to Tortola for Thanksgiving and we were driving back to the Resort from town and got caught behind a truck with two very large pallets of shrink wrapped "towers" of boxes and bags. As we started up a hill I knew one of them was going to fall off of the truck and quietly told Steve not to get too close to him. Don't ask me why I knew - I just did. There was such a certainly that it would happen I didn't even question it. Sure enough, after Steve slowed down and let the truck pull ahead one of the pallets came off the back - it would have landed on the front of the Jeep we were driving if we had been right behind him as we had been. I said a quiet thank you to my guardian angels and we proceeded to have a wonderful rest of our short holiday.

Guardian angels aren't always human. It isn't easy for children to deal with death and Angel Cat by Michael Garland is a touching story of a family's guardian angel cat that wakes the youngest child when an ember from the fireplace catches the rug on fire. Even though Garland's illustrations were done electronically, they are beautiful - especially the one of the other cat playing with his angelic counterpart. You might recognize Garland's name from his The Mouse before Christmas.

If you are a TV watcher, catch The Three Wise Guys if it is shown again this season. A funny modern "baby born in a stable story" with a pregnant Vegas dancer running from three hit men. Of course, there is a bit of a love story here too. Was a nice diversion as I wrote Christmas cards yesterday.

All for now - need to find the top of my desk and wrap a couple more presents!

What a Christmas Concert we went to last night at the Reichhold Center for the Arts outdoor theater on the University of the Virgin Islands campus. It was the Rising Stars - a 150+ member steel pan group that is sponsored by the Virgin Islands Superior Court, where Steve works. These young people were incredible! They played everything from classical, to hymns, to delightful Christmas music. During the intermission Santa and Mrs. Claus appeared and handed out gifts to the little ones in the audience. The Rising Stars and their young conductor were a joy to watch. The only disappointment is that the theater was not full - these young musicians need support all year, not just during Carnival.

Celebrating the Holidays in the islands is certainly different from where I grew up - Upper Michigan. I miss seeing all the Christmas lights and the Santa's sleighs on the roof, actually in snow. So it isn't surprising that I thoroughly enjoyed reading Will Weaver's Full Service. It may take place during the summer of 1965, but it is set in rural Minnesota, very much like Upper Michigan with the lakes and summer tourists who come from Lower Michigan and Chicago. Paul is the only son in a farm family who are part of a fundamentalist religious group similar to the Quakers or Amish. They gather for services in each other homes and join together to harvest their crops. So it is no surprise that the other young men are more than put out when Paul's mother insists he learn about the outside world and takes him into town (Hawk Bend, popular 1,750) to get a summer job. While pumping gas at the Shell station Paul learns many of the residents' secrets and finds reasons for a few of his own, especially in relation to Janet, the daughter of the hippie couple living on their farm until they can get their van fixed. They are on the farm because Paul saw one of the other station workers tamper with the van, causing the oil to drain out. Paul is questioning his family's way of life after being exposed to retired gangsters, pretty school band leaders who aren't who they seem to be, and to a family of pot smoking hippies. A well written, poignantly funny coming-of-age story. A must have for all YA collections. I enjoyed this book so much I am tempted to find my copies of Weaver's Billy Baggs' baseball books, Hard Ball, Striking Out, and Farm Team, and read them again.

Winter time, even while living in the tropics, has me in the needlework mood. I am working on Christmas stocking at the moment, but am looking through the projects in Shannon Okey's knitgrrl. This Watson-Guptill title has color photographs of the finished projects and easy to ready directions. One of them is a bag for an Ipod, with a spot for speakers too! Remember Olivia Newton John bouncing around getting physical in her legwarmers? Well, you can knit your own set of legwarmers too. :-) My favorite is the fuzzy yarn soda cozy. With all the knitting groups for teens being formed this is a great addition to a YA collection.

That's it for day. Only 12 days until Christmas! Those online orders had better get here in time.