A dreary Monday here in Greenville. Yesterday was really gray and rainy. I decided my trip to Office Depot could wait - I may decide the same thing today! I really didn't mind spending the whole day working on annual report "stuff" for ECU. There are days I wish we went for shorter is better like the business world. No such luck - I am working to fill a 3" three-ring binder of examples of what I have done professionally in the last year. I didn't even take time off, totally, to watch the Oscars. I was flipping through copies of Library Media Connection to make sure I didn't miss any reviews while I watched. My Reader Advisory columns are easy to find as they are in the table of contents, but not the reviews. Ellen Degeneres was quite funny and the actors were on their best behavior, except for Jack Nicholson - he always looks deranged to me! I was disappointed that Peter O'Toole didn't win, but that may have been because I was listening to Lawrence of Arabia on Saturday while I went through files. Now I want to rent Pan's Labyrinth after seeing clips from it. Wonderful special effects in what looks like a deliciously creepy movie from a Mexican director. A very international flavor last night with one of the most touching speeches given in Italian, with Clint Eastwood doing a bit of translation for the audience. It was worth Sophie glaring at me as she knows Mom's normal bedtime and it isn't 12:30!

While I was looking through files and boxes I came across the updated copy of A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Devereaux that I picked up from the bargain table at Barnes and Noble. Mary has my first edition and I knew I wasn't going to get it back from her. Once upon a time when I was still a stay at home mom I read romances - anything to vicariously take me away from the harsh winters in Alaska. Devereaux was one of my favorite romance authors and this time travel love story is my favorite romance of all time. I was just looking through the 95 reader reviews on B&N and their comments are similar to Mary's - they read it again every couple of years. How can you not love a story of a modern woman and a knight from the 16th century? One of my favorite scenes from the movie version with Meg Ryan is when he is learning how to brush his teeth and toothpaste is quite an oddity to him. Compared to many of the bodice-ripper romance writers, Devereaux is mild and many of her books are read and loved by teenage girls. That's when Mary borrowed my copy and I never got it back. So, when this darn annual review is turned in, my treat is to curl up with Dougless (yes, that's her name) and Nicholas and let them sweep me away to the past! :-)

I sent Monica, Steve's daughter, the picture of Allyson in her President mode and she sent me this one of her and Kady, our newest granddaughter who was born in October. I named this pic file Kady Bear as Kady looks adorable in the bear bunting. Baby clothes are so much fun to shop for. Mary lives near one of the big outlet malls and I went crazy in the baby clothing stores - they had them all. :-)

I am so excited about being closer to the girls and the grandkids. I told Steve I want a house with our bedroom downstairs and we can set up a couple of rooms upstairs for the girls and the grandkids. His response was - "So they can wake us up with the sound of them running around?" :-) That's fine with me - I just will love having them with us.

A good night's sleep and I am still traumatized over my time in the dressing room yesterday with way too many different swimsuits, all of which looked awful. JC Penney's was having a big sale so I thought I would go for it while they still had a large selection. Well, it wasn't a large enough selection for me to find one I would be willing to wear in public! I was so traumatized I had to come home and "heal" with dark chocolate and a Pierce Brosnan movie. The Thomas Crowne Affair is my favorite, but I went with what was on TV. I may have chosen unwisely as I had to put up with Salma Hayek running around in a very skimpy bikini while I was enjoying Brosnan's escapades as a diamond thief in After the Sunset. Woody Harrelson is not one of my favorite actors but he plays a charming, but bumbling, FBI agent after Brosnan. Next attempt at swimsuits, I am finding a cover-up I like first!

After the Sunset is set in the Caribbean, but not in Cuba, which, in my opinion, has some of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean, with few people on them. Lots of Canadians and most Cubans assumed I was Canadian when I spoke English. They were very surprised when I said I was an American taking a 3-week Spanish class at the University of Havana. We won't even go into how badly I did in Cuban Spanish! So, when I see children's books with a Cuba flavor I have to pick them up. Oye, Celia!: A Song for Celia Cruz by Katie Sciurba is a vibrant book - both text and illustrations. This book is a loving tribute to the Cuban born Queen of Salsa - Celia Cruz. Edel Rodriguez, the illustrator, was born in Havana so he adds an authentic Cuba flavor to the bold illustrations. He uses an interesting technique of combining spray paint with pastels and acrylics, while using clean black ink to outline. My favorite double-page spread shows a Havana street scene, with a well kept old car as a central feature. The engines may be a mixture of old and new, but the bodies are kept authentic and you feel like you have walked into the 50s when you walk down some of the streets in Havana. While I was in Havana, many of the other people with my group were there taking dancing lessons. I went to see their show at the end of the 3 weeks and we were dancing in our seats along with the students. The music of Cuba is alive with movement and smiles. No one can be unhappy while dancing in Cuba. :-) Oye! Listen!! One Spanish word I know well!

Time to do some picking up around here so Steve can actually get into bed when he gets home. Friday was his last day at the Court in the Virgin Islands and I pick him up in Charlotte on Wednesday. I can't wait! Sophie is good company but Steve is my best friend, along with being a way cool husband, and I have missed him something terrible.

Thought I would add a picture of our other granddaughter who has yet to beautify my blog. This is President Allyson, who is incredibly good at imaginative play. She saw that big desk and made herself right at home! I think she makes a better president than... Okay, I said no politics on the blog! I am getting excited about being closer to the grandchild and buying a house so they can come spend time with us. I really do love this Gramma thing! :-)

Sophie is totally miffed at me because I was awake before her this a.m. and she didn't get to wake me up and listen to tell her to go away and leave me alone! I got quite the dirty look and the tail shake. Cats are such funny creatures, but as much as they are a pain in the butt you can't help but love them. At least I can't help it. I know there are lots of supposed cat haters out there, but they just haven't found the right cat! Or, more appropriately, the right cat hasn't found them. :-)

Looks like we are in the last stretch here as we wait for all the paperwork to finalize on Steve's new job at Lexmark in Lexington, KY. When he told me we were going to over to Lexington so he could interview I had to chuckle as we had driven through that area in October on our way back from Kansas City and we talked about how gorgeous the area is with the rolling hills and horse farms. At that time of the year it was exceptionally beautiful as the trees were ablaze in Autumn colors. I commented then that I had loved the area for years as I drove through many times going north to visit family when I lived in Texas. And, now we will be hanging our hats in Lexington. Well, for me, part of the time as I am keeping my teaching position with ECU and driving back and forth for meetings. I love my job and the people I work with, as well as my students. They are well worth the several hour drive, and just think of all the books I will get to listen to during the trips!

I will be so glad to have Steve back on the Mainland. He emailed me this a.m. to say that the Virgin Island Daily News has a picture of semi truck that "rolled off" of the ferry at the dock in Red Hook. I just shook my head as nothing surprises me about what happens over there anymore. When you live there about the only thing that helps you realize you are living in the United States is the postage stamps! And even then, every package we mail from the USVI to the Mainland needs a customs form. It feels like a foreign country. Poor Steve - he has been filling customs forms out by the droves as he is sending all his stuff to NC via the mail. He sold all of our furniture, etc. that we bought down there as well as our RAV4. I am glad - it had a bit of island damage. No car is immune to being backed into, run into, scratched, etc. on that island. Parking is impossible and when you do find a spot it is the size of a postage stamp and everyone drives SUVs! The government buys them for all the upper level government employees and the legislature. Why anyone would want to drive a full size SUV on that island is beyond me - there are even a couple Hummers on the island. Next time we go to the Caribbean, as I am sure we will as we both love the islands, I want to go to Aruba, or one of the other ABC islands, but I want to go as a tourist!

Speaking of traveling - I got to do a bit of vicarious time/realm travel while reading Kate Thompson's The New Policeman. What a "way cool" book! Make this your weekend reading and block out some time as you won't want to put it down once you start. I very much relate to the theme of there not being enough time in the day and that the days are getting shorter. For J.J. and the rest of his music loving Irish family, the days literally are getting shorter. Time is somehow seeping into Tir na n'Og - the Land of Eternal Youth where the figures of Irish tales reside, such as Aengus Og - the Celtic god of love, youth and beauty. A place where time is supposed to stand still, where the sun is supposed to stay at high noon, but is no longer. No one from either side seems to be able to find the portal through which time is leaking. When J.J. promises his mother he will give her time for her birthday, he doesn't realize that he will journey to the other side of time where goats turn into drums and the music he sometimes hears in the woods is actually seeping through from Tir na n'Og. He will play with legends and help humans discover why their socks go missing from the dryer! :-) For those of you who read my blog I am sure you have picked up on my preference for fantasy, but I would recommend this title to non-fantasy readers as well, especially those who love music as the sheet music for the tunes preface each chapter. I can't carry a tune in a bucket, but loved this book for the wonderful merging of current day Ireland with the Celtic legends and myths I have loved to read since I was a child. If you go to www.katethompson.info you can actually listen to some of the music from this book. The cover shown on her web site is different than the Greenwillow U.S. cover. I think the Greenwillow cover is more attractive - it is a gorgeous dark blue, with what looks like the internal workings of a clock. For me, time is blue, not green as the other cover shows. Also check out Thompson's other titles, such as Only Human, Origins, etc. She has written several children's/YA titles.

All for now.

I think my brain is coming out of the peanut butter muck after several days of being miserable. I thought I had the nasty stomach flu that is tearing its way through North Carolina, even closing down schools. There I was curled up in quilts, sitting on a heating pad to stay warm due to the chills, while I watched the eveing news. I then heard my beloved Peter Pan is the culprit that has made me sicker than a dog. Of course I have the tainted lot starting with 2111 and the jar is 2/3s empty. Peanut butter toast had been my comfort food and it was making me sicker!

Sick or not, I have been entertained by the discussion on the listservs about the use of the word scrotum on the first page of the Newbery winner - The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron. I have to admit I added a posting or two with my opinion - loud and clear. Anyway, a New York Times article suggested authors sneak in controversial terms - causing librarians in turn to decide to not purchase it for their collections. Referring to a dog being bitten by a snake on the scrotum is a reason to ban a book. Excuse me, it isn't the incident, just the use of the term scrotum. GEESH!!

I did have the opportunity to read an upcoming June 2007 HarperCollins historical novel - Billy Creekmore by Tracey Porter. Her afterward addresses the depth of her research on coal mining towns and circuses in the early 1900s, which is seamlessly intertwined with the well developed settings and characters she creates. Billy is an enduring young rascal who has a gift for storytelling. He uses it to his advantage to keep the bullies at bay at the orphanage where the boys are kept scrawny and scared. He tells them about all the ghosts he talks to as everyone knows he started talking to them at birth. Billy is bound for the glass factory when his maternal uncle shows up to claim him. Billy loves his stern aunt and his miner uncle but still misses his father who sends him post cards from all over the country. An involvement in the union has Billy running from Baldwin Felts agents after they kill his uncle and the other miners planning a strike. Coming out of the woods hungry and eager for human interaction, Billy is welcomed into the Sparks Circus family but his short time with them is interrupted by none other than his wayward father. Billy is the mature one of the two and their relationship does not come to a happy end, but the reader will applaud Billy's skill at surviving during the worst of times and smile at his delightful stories. A superb addition to upper elementary and middle school collections. Even the most reluctant male reader will be drawn in by Billy and his escapes.

All for tonight. Am going to go curl up with the latest Strega-Borgia title by Debi Gliori.

Just had to share this picture of Michael and Kegan. Michael is a bit impatient for his little brother to grow up a bit so they can play with his trains together. :-) And, I have to amend the previous birth weight I announced. I can thank my "he thinks he is so funny" son-in-law for the error. He told me 8 lbs. 11 oz. as Kegan lost an ounce when he peed! Mary has since corrected me - Kegan was 8 lbs. 12 oz. at birth. The peeing part doesn't count!

I have to chuckle as most of the pics Mary has sent me are taken on their king size bed. She has followed in my footsteps with making their bed a major living area in the house. Mine at the moment has 8 books on it (in a variation of having been read to wishing to read) along with a cat curled up in my stuffed animals and the folded playbill from the Vagina Monologues, which I saw last Friday night. I can usually relive the last week from what ends up on the other side of the bed.

I had not seen The Vagina Monologues before so I really didn't know what to expect. I would have been all wrong anyway. The various subjects covered made me laugh, cry, and even blush. And with all the edgy YA novels I read, I didn't think much could make me blush these days! At one point I was sitting there thinking - "I am watching this on a college campus in the South!" I don't remember ever reading about the comfort women who were held in prison-like conditions for the Japanese soldiers to rape and abuse during WWII. This act brought me to tears. I am glad I went to see it and will go again next year if the opportunity arises. Guess it has been done for several years at ECU with local actors, who were quite good.

One of my have-reads on the bed next to me is Liz Rettig's My Desperate Love Diary - a new 2007 Holiday House title coming out soon. It is desperately funny! Stand aside Rennison's Georgia Nicolson. You have been bested by a new clueless British teenage girl who shares her inner most thoughts and down right ridiculous actions and reactions in her laugh-out-loud funny diary. Kelly Ann is totally blinded by the hunkiness (in her not so humble opinion) of G, whose name she cannot even divulge in her diary for fear someone might read it and know who she is madly in love with. Like everyone in England doesn't already know from her actions! She is oblivious to the fact that G is the biggest slimeball in the school, taking advantage of her very obvious crush on him to the point of allowing her to buy his lunch when he is short on cash. G is quite willing to help her lose her virginity, but those who truly care about her keep inconveniently interrupting them, including her pregnant sister whose water just broke! It takes some time for Kelly Ann to lose her very distorted view of who does and doesn't deserve her attention and affection, but there is hope for her. The British slang is delightful and I found myself using a British accent in my head as I read and thought about this book. Hmmm - reminder to self - keep the British accent for internal conversations with self only!

Sorry it has been a week since I blogged. Been a busy one with meetings and phone calls with Mary as she impatiently waited for their son to be born.
Steve and I now have five grandbabies! Kegan Allan was born on Thursday, February 8th and weighed 6 lbs, 11 oz. Isn't he a cutie? He looks just like his daddy, Scott. Wish I could have been there for the birth, but mother and baby are back home and doing well. Big brother Michael, who's three, doesn't understand why Kegan can't come upstairs and play with him. Mary is going to have her hands full with two little boys, but they certainly have a backyard big enough for them to play in and they live next to the elementary school, with a big playground.

Been busy cleaning today - told myself I had to get all the old Christmas catalogs thrown out. Now my hips are sore from 4 trips up and down the stairs to the dumpster. Didn't realize I had accumulated so much junk mail. But, since I was home all of 13 days in January and not that many more in December, it is not surprising.

The Grammys are on tonight and I want to watch them as the Dixie Chicks are nominated for 5 awards. I would love to see them win as many as possible after the raw deal they got from country stations who boycotted their music for disagreeing with Bush. But, I am not getting into politics in this blog!

I have never been a big manga fan, but I love Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet. It is set in modern day Tokyo, but keeps the family names, Capulet and Montague. Romeo's father is Japanese and his mother looks like a blonde bimbo. Romeo is drawn blonde, thin and handsome and is, of course, a rock idol! :-) Juliet is a Shibuya girl. Now, I had to go look that up as I had no idea what a Shibuya girl was. Basically, a teenage girl who is very into fashion and hangs out in the commercial entertainment district of Shibuya in Tokyo. Juliet's clothes are certainly ... interesting! The dialogue is straight out of Shakespeare's play and it actually works with the modern day illustrations. I think teens of all ages will love this new Abrams/Amulet graphic novel series illustrated by Sonia Leong. I can't wait to read the others. Hamlet is already available, but I don't have a copy yet. Will sure help all those Juniors to have to read Hamlet in English classes as the Manga Shakespeare titles also include a short plot summary at the end.

All for now, I need to make sure I have all the books I need for my presentation tomorrow at home and not in the office.

Since Steve can't be here to hear me screaming when the Bears got a touch down on the first kickoff of the SuperBowl - first time in history that has happened - I thought I'd put him on the blog. This pic is the background on my laptop! :-) Doesn't he look cute? This was at my favorite Cuban restaurant in Key West. There is even a cigar roller there, but not as much fun as visiting the real thing in Cuba.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Somehow Cirque de Solei isn't working real well for me on a football field. Weird pre-game show and then some! Not as weird as the pre-concert show at Paul McCartney's concerts, but close. Since none of my favorite teams are playing I will go with the team closest to where I grew up - GO BEARS!!! Now that I think about it - I am sipping a glass of Fat Bastard white wine rather than guzzling Bud, so I shouldn't be complaining about this unusual pre-game show. This is the one football game where I run to the bathroom during the game so I can see the commercials. Can't wait to see the full Chevy commercial the Freshman at the U of WI-Milwaukee designed. Wish Steve were here watching it with me. He keeps my shouting down to a dull roar! :-)

Hey - I just heard that the Police are going to play on the Grammys! Sting is the one guy I'd think about leaving Steve for - well, Cary Grant too, but he's dead.

I went to the Public Library Annual Fund Raising Book Sale. What a waste of time on the last day. If I wanted books clearly I should have went on Friday afternoon. There wasn't a single book I wanted left - mainly because there wasn't a single book on the Children's Books table and only some really old stuff on the Fantasy/SF table. But there were tons of people there with bags and boxes to fill up with books. I even checked the Biographies for old movie stars and nothing. Oh well, it did get me out of the house for a little while - man it is cold out there with the wind. But nothing like what Mary was just telling me. Minus 9 degrees in Green Bay without the wind chill factor. BRRRR!!

I just finished the coolest MS fantasy - Elissa's Quest by Erica Verrillo. It is the first title in Phoenix Rising Trilogy and I can't wait to read the next two. It's a new Random House title that will be out in June. I am a big Tamora Pierce fan because of her strong female characters. Elissa would hold her own with Alanna and others. Elissa is the assistant to the midwife who delivered her when her mother died in childbirth. She has the ability to talk to animals and lives a quiet life gathering herbs with her friend Gertrude, a donkey with an attitude. Life changes when her father, Lord Falk, arrives and informs her that she is the key to him receiving help from the Khan in the form of soldiers to help save Falk's kingdom. Elissa is to spend a year in the Khan's household, which doesn't sound that terrible until her father leaves and she learns the lecherous Khan plans to add her to his group of wives. Way cool book! My favorite non-human character is Gertrude the donkey - she has such a personality and when Ralph the camel falls for her, I was laughing out loud. Adventure and humor - what more could you want?

Okay - the game has started - gotta go!

Can you believe I woke up to snow this morning? It was beautiful, but didn't last long. It warmed up and turned to rain and melted the snow on the grass and roofs. It rained pretty much all day so we would have had quite a few inches of snow if it hadn't warmed up. It was the second time in a few days I have seen snow. Steve and I were in Lexington, KY from Monday through yesterday afternoon and it snowed big fluffy snowflakes and made the city look like a Norman Rockwell painting. I had to reach out and catch the dime size flakes on my black gloves. But, now I am happy - I have seen snow and that's enough for this winter! I guess our weather is going to be quite cold, but no snow. I have been using the fireplace since I got home - makes the livingroom more toasty. And thank goodness for heated mattress pads.

I had time to read during the flights and airport waits and finished Ysabeau S. Wilce's Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog. First of all I have to say this is a very long fantasy romp - 431 pages of chaotic adventures to help the waning magical butler of the family home, Crackpot Hall, where if you aren't careful you can arrive someplace totally different than you expected. Flora Segunda is about to reach her 14th birthday - the age when she will start her military training. She doesn't want to become a soldier, but her mother is one of the commanding army leaders and isn't about to listen to her daughter's nonsense about wanting to be a ranger. Actually, she is not home long enough to listen to anyone's nonsense - her daughter's or that of her alcoholic and quite out of it husband who comes down from his tower room long enough to help the bevy of dogs trash the kitchen. Flora makes the mistake of sharing some of her anima (magickal essence) with the house butler who has been exiled by her mother and the story becomes even more convoluted. Off she and her best friend Udo go in search of a cure before she disappears completely. The story line is delightful but the overly expressive writing, filled with made up words, drags it down to an almost halt a number of times. The characters are delightful as well, but it is just to cutesy at times. But, then again I am not a Lemony Snickett fan and I do believe they would love this book. Will be popular in MS and JH collections

Time to call it a night.

Sundays are such lovely days, even though this one was rainy and gray. Spent the morning in bed with the newspaper and the afternoon catching up on grading and emails along with the wash. Sure is a lot less of it when it is just me. It warmed up enough to go out on the balcony with Sophie for a bit. I made the mistake of leaving her out there alone and she almost fell off because she jumped up between the railings. It's a good thing she caught herself as I was too far away to grab her. She is not happy being an inside cat.

There have been a number of teenage authors published lately. One of the latest is Thu-Houng Ha, the 16-year-old female author of Hail Caesar, a first person novel from a 17-year-old male's perspective. Not sure what I think of this novel. Like The Outsiders, the male characters don't always ring true. Ha knows 17-year-old guys think with the wrong head and sex is their focus, especially for this main character. John, called Caesar since he was a kid, has has had sex with most of the girls in the HS, but has yet to be in a true relationship. He is quite happy with his shallow life of parties, drinking, and sex until the new girl in school piques his interest. Too bad she isn't willing to jump into bed with him, nor is she impressed by his popularity or false impression that he is the center of the universe. They do become friends and spend time at a secluded spot by the lake, where she plays mind games with him. She is none too stable herself! Perhaps because his mother died when he was young and his father is a workaholic are part of why he has no respect for girls. He doesn't think about how girls reacts to guys' hunt for sexual conquests until his little sister shows up at a party and gets drunk with one of his friends. No guy like him better get near her! If more teenage girls read books like this, they might think twice before drinking with the guys at the local parties. Ha knows teen dialogue, which dominates this book. An interesting look into the teen preppy crowd.

Now back to savoring my Diet Vernor's Ginger Ale and a Lifetime movie! It is so nice to be back on the Mainland where I can buy Vernors. I grew up with this spicier ginger ale than Canadian Dry, which is a "watered down" version of the real thing. They have Ginger Beer in the islands but it is way too sweet - no diet version of it either. So now I always have Vernors in the fridge. I'm a happy girl!

Not the greatest picture of our latest grandbaby as you cannot see her adorable face, but I certainly loved sitting with Kady in my arms. Have babies on the mind since Kegan should be entering the world any time now. I'm still hoping for the blue eyed grandbaby - no luck yet, and Kegan will be # 5!

A relaxing Saturday afternoon. I pampered myself with a pedicure and a set of nails. I have Valentine's Day red finger and toe nails. :-) Now to get used to having fingernails again - my own break off so using the keyboard with longer nails is interesting. But, the cool part is you can't even tell the tip of my index finger was cut off and my natural nail curls. I hated my ugly nail as a kid and it embarrassed me as a school librarian when kids would ask me what happened to my finger. I wasn't about to tell them that my dad drilled the tip off because I had my finger in the doorknob hole of the door he was making for the kitchen and was afraid to tell him my finger was stuck.

While I type this I am watching Timeline on the SciFi channel. I like watching movies on this channel as they take all the gory stuff out! I didn't read Timeline, but I have a copy of Crichton's The 13th Warrior, which is out of print. I have my own copy the movie of the same name with Antonio Banderas and a group of Scandinavians as the Vikings who are very realistic in their garb and speech pattern. Most are Swedes or Norwegians. A very cool movie, but do be careful when viewing with little ones around - the scene where they find the butchered family is pretty gory. It is supposed to be based on Beowulf. I think it stands on its own, with no prior knowledge of Beowulf.

Read Cameron Dokey's Before Midnight: A Retelling of "Cinderella". I have never been a big Cinderella fan because I dislike the Disney version of it with the dumb singing birds and the mice. Basically, I dislike all of Disney's remakes of the folk/fairy tales of the past. It is so sad to think that many children know no other versions of the stories. Anyway, Dokey's YA novelization, a part of Simon & Schuster's Once Upon a Time series, is wonderful. I love this retelling because it is the father who is wicked, not the stepmother. She is just an unhappy woman who is married off to Cendrillon's father by the King and sent into exile at his country estate by her new husband. She does not know that the young woman who meets her at the door is her new stepdaughter as no one at court knows about Cendrillon. When her mother died in childbirth he abandoned his daughter and swore to have nothing to do with her. Cendrillon isn't alone in her exile prior to the arrival of her new stepmother and sister. Raised at her side is the infant boy her father delivered the same night Cendrillon was born, Raoul. Old Mathilde raises them both. They will play a role in the future of the kingdom. Such a fun retelling, set on an isolated ocean side estate with magic all of its own and wishes that sometimes come true in the strangest ways, including Cendrillon's wish for two stepsisters, so one will like her. I might just have to read the rest of the series now.

All for today.

Hi y'all! Just now working my way to the top of the pile of e- and snail mail that was waiting for me after several days in Seattle for Midwinter. What a beautiful city, but I am glad to be back home in sunny Greenville. It is a gorgeous day with bright blue skies. Sophie was laying right in the middle of a sunbeam coming in through the sliding doors and when I petted her, her fur was hot. Guess she misses the heat of the islands. Speaking of heat - I am typing this on one of my cool Christmas presents from Steve - a heated keyboard. I am not kidding - the keys stay warm to the touch. Wonderful for those of us who always have cold hands. Now, what to do about my always cold feet - oh yeah, my yeti looking mid calf slippers from Macy's are taking care of that problem.

Just gotta tell you about the creepy but cool book I read on the way home from Seattle. I was going to go for a light read, but the cover and Holiday House's Terry Borzumato's quick booktalk of Nicky Singer's The Innocent's Story hooked me and I set aside the romance for later. I am so glad I did. This is one of those read in one gulp books because you have to know what is going to happen. Imagine you have a parasite in your brain - doing so gives me the major creeps! He/she knows your inner most thoughts, experiences your dreams, and can see the world through your eyes. Cassina can do just that. She is a para-spirit, a parasitic spirit that needs the moisture of the brain to stay "alive". Composed of a mist like substance she enters and exists through your nose. Makes my nostrils tickle just thinking about it! But, Cassina isn't just any para-spirit, she is the para-spirit of a young teen whose was blown up in a London subway bombing, along with her little sister. Cassina enters the minds of a number of human hosts, including the mortician who prepares her little sister's body for viewing, her father's, the family dog's, that witnesses the suicide bomber's brutal beating. As he didn't die from the bombing, Akim also does not die from the beating - he is an aeternal, one who cannot die by "normal" methods such as bombs, bullets, or beatings. Cassina enters his mind and must come to terms with the manner in which people of his religion are treated and how they view the world. The most unsettling scene for me was when she enters the mind of the religious zealot who masterminded the bombing and sees what he sees when he walks down the streets of London - only the other T'lannis have form and facial features. The "non-believers" are just blurs of color. This is one of those books that teens of all ages, from MS through HS will eat up and be talking about and sharing with friends, insisting they read it too so they can talk about it! Singer has written one heck of a page-turner, a view of another culture/religion that has you wanting to go back and read it again, immediately after you read the last word on page 217.

Okay - on to catching up on grading and other "stuff".

Good morning from Seattle. This city is very hilly and none of the hotels I have meetings at are very close together. But, walking uphill to the IBBY session last night was well worth it. Terry Trueman was hilarious. Terry had done a number of online chats with my students when I taught at UHCL and they loved him, and his books. His Stuck in Neutral is a Printz Honor book and opened the eyes of many teens in relation to cerebral palsy. The sequel to it Cruise Control is from Paul's perspective. Shawn, the disabled 14-year-old's older brother, Paul, is angry about his father leaving. Paul feels like the weight of caring for Shawn is on his shoulders and he cannot accept a basketball scholarship to go away to college. In his latest YA novel, No Right Turn, Trueman takes on the topic of parental suicide and how 16-year-old Jordan has been not dealing with it well for the last three years. Will the 1976 Corvette and a girl bring him out of his depression? Trueman told us last night that the Vette on the cover is his. He also told a hilarious story about being out on the road with it and having a car of girls pull up next to him. They were all interested in him until he rolled down the tinted windows and they saw he was an old bald guy! He had us snort laughing!

I was supposed to go to a breakfast this a.m. but my knee had a different idea when I got up. It decided Tylenol and some elevated time is what it wanted. Lots of walking yesterday, and sitting for hours in one spot, aggravated it big time. I won't be climbing stepladders while talking on the phone any time in the future. Or, I should say falling off of stepladders while talking on the phone! It has been over two weeks and the knee is getting worse, not better.

Was listening to the trash truck outside the hotel this a.m. and had to chuckle as I thought of the scare I had while on island. We stopped to drop off trash and all of a sudden a guy came hopping out of the dumpster, with a curtain rod in his hand. We didn't realize anyone was there so he really startled me. Dumpster diving is a common event on St. Thomas, but that is the first time I have actually seen someone come over the top of the huge dumpsters. These dumpsters are the size of a semi trailer and deep so how he came hopping out of there is beyond me. I was proud of myself. I was able to keep myself from screaming when he hopped down next to my side of the car. But, I did lose a cat life for sure.

For the first time in the almost 20 years I have been attending ALA I went to the exhibit opening. I even stood in line to get a Chaucer bobble head doll. Not sure why, but the two fellow NC librarians I was with wanted one. It will look cute on my desk. Had a chance to stop and chat with publishing people. Many fun freebies and lots of food too. Tried to win something by throwing a stuffed fish through a hole at the Amazon booth, but no suck luck. I blamed it on my new bifocals! :-) There were so many bags of free books, posters and other goodies on people's shoulders that I am surprised we weren't knocking each other over. But, what fun. Not sure I want to do this every time, but it was certainly interesting.

Had the absolute pleasure of talking to Arthur Dorros and met his very sweet son, Alex, who co-authored Numero Uno with his father. This new Abrams title is a very entertaining tale of two villagers, Hercules and Socrates, who are continuously arguing about who is number one - numero uno. Hercules insists he is because of his strength. Socrates is as confidant he is numero uno because of his intellect. It isn't until the villagers send them away for three days so they try to figure out how to build the bridge without Hercules' strength or Socrates' intellect that the villagers decide what they didn't miss was the arguing! And, the bridge is built without them, well sort of! The illustrations make it clear that the huge boulder that the arguers dislodged from the hillside cave entrance (it took both brawn and intellect) rolled into the river and became the center support beam for the village bridge. This is a must have book in elementary collections and will be a wonderful read aloud title, which will result in very interesting conversations, I am sure. Can't wait to read this autographed copy to Michael on my next visit to Green Bay. Which, should be soon as Kegan is getting himself ready to enter this world. Can't wait to hold my newest grandbaby.

Okay, time to check for student emails and get myself going for the another long day.

I finally got my pictures transferred from the camera. Took this pic from the balcony of the apartment in St. Thomas, above Frenchman's Bay. That is the Queen Mary. She is so large she has to anchor at the entrance to the Charlotte Amalie harbor. The tourists take these pod things in to the wharf and then wait forever to get back out to the ship. Not my cup of tea, but the ship is pretty from a distance. The cruise ships look like huge sideways Christmas trees when they leave at night.

As I type this I am watching The Golden Globes and realize how few of the movies I have seen that they are highlighting. Haven't seen Dream Girls or Babel, but I have seen Cars! Can't you tell I teach children's and YA literature and am a gramma - I know kids' movies. And because of reading children's books I know who Georges Melies is - his name and his first first animated movie of a rocket hitting the moon were mentioned as the animated movie nominations were to be introduced. I knew this from reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selsnick, a very intriguing combination of narrative and line drawings, which really do tell their own part of the story, not just as a supplement to the text. Because the full page drawings tell so much of the story the book appears huge, Harry Potter size, but it really is a quick read and is quite fascinating. The concept of a young boy living in the walls of the train station and keeping all of the clocks going is quirky, but add the fact that he is working on an automaton and it becomes a true guy book. My brother the engineer would have loved this book - as a kid he took everything apart to see how it worked, but rarely put it back together again!

I was lazy this a.m. and finished Cameron Dokey's Before Midnight: A Retelling of "Cinderella". What an interesting retelling, with a father who is the wicked one for a change. The stepmother who arrives is his arranged bride, sent into "exile" with her two daughters to his home on the coast. A castle that he has not returned to since the night his wife died in childbirth, leaving after cursing the very spot his wife is buried and denying the child he leaves behind to be raised by the servants. Cendrillon is thought a servant by her new stepmother as she was not told her new husband has a daughter and Cendrillon does not change that misperception until much later in the tale. Cendrillon grows up with the baby boy Raoul who her father left with Old Mathilde, the healer who raises both children. Every year on their birthday they each wish for the same thing. Cendrillon wishes that what she plants on her mother's grave will not wither and die. Raoul wishes to know where he comes from and who his parents are. As we know, in fairy tales wishes do have a tendency to come true in the end, but not the way one expects. For those girls who love fairy tale retellings, this one will be swallowed in one gulp. :-) They will also love all the other titles in the Simon Pulse Once Upon a Time series.

Feels weird to sit here and not have Santas all about and Christmas lights sparking on the balcony. I took it all down today. The livingroom looks empty. Maybe I need to buy some heart lights to put out on the balcony for Valentines Day. Perhaps I will do just that when I get back from ALA Midwinter in Seattle.

All for tonight. Now to find the next book I am reviewing for Library Media Connection!

It's late Sunday afternoon and I am in the office. I came in to find my missing Midwinter file, but no such luck. Hopefully it is somewhere in my mess at home. I still don't feel settled in because each time I go to the islands I bring home two big suitcases full of stuff and have to reposition everything I had unpacked and put away the last time. And, I need more bookcases as I have more boxes of books coming and I haven't opened several that already came I need a bigger home office!

I started opening boxes of new books and got so excited about the cool board books that came in. I had to stop and "play" with Katie Davis' Who Hops?: Quien salta? The full page simple and bold illustrations of different animals are wonderful for little ones. The book is not a tiny board book so it is best explored sitting down. It first goes through the things that hop: frogs, rabbits, kangaroos, cows. Wait a minute! Cows? The page where it says no they don't is a hoot as it shows a bluish purple cow imagining what she would look like hopping - quite funny. Also goes through flying, slithering, and swimming. Since it is English/Spanish I am learning a few new words as I interact with this book. Can't wait to share this one with my grandkids. Harcourt is coming out with some really cool early childhood titles in board book format, including my beloved Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh. How can you not love a group of mice out witting a hungry snake? I have these little critters stuffed. Well, I should say had as I have lost a few to grandbabies who got a hold of them and wouldn't let go. Also have a board book copy of I Went Walking:Sali de paseo by Sue Williams. The "I went walking. What did you see?" text works beautifully for parents and little ones to read together. The use of "I saw a .... looking at me" each time makes this perfect for little ones to "read" alone as they can readily memorize it.

Can't you tell I am teaching a Materials for Early Childhood course this semester?

On the YA side, I am holding a copy of Psyche in a Dress by Francesca Lia Block, one of my all time favorite YA authors. The cover is absolutely gorgeous with a woman's form topped by a butterfly, with a skull where the feet should be. It is a short 116 pages, but I know it will be intense - all of Block's books are. My favorite, Baby Bebop is out of print. :-(

All for today. They just announced the library closes in 30 minutes so I want to get out of here before then. I was in here Friday night after it closed - kinda creepy.

No, I didn't fall off of the edge of the earth, but I may as well have as deep as I was wrapped up in the final manuscript. Y'All should have heard my YAHOO across the world when I electronically submitted it last evening. I came home, read my mail, "window shopped" a few catalogs, watched my new favorite show, The Ghost Whisperer and then crashed. I was too brain dead to do anything else. I would have been a very happy camper to have gotten my first full night of sleep not worrying that I wasn't going to make my deadline. But no - darn Sophie got bored at 4:40 this morning and decided it was time to talk and play. She was up and down off the bed, playing with my pillow, and telling me she was bored with her loudest meows. Now I understand what Steve told me he like to do while he had her and she woke him up - she almost became a cat-apult!

Just submitted a review for Classic Teenplots: A Booktalk Guide to Use with Readers Ages 12-18 to VOYA. Gillespie is well knows for his professional titles, especially Juniorplots and Seniorplots that went out of print awhile back. This is an interesting group of 100 books because they are in print titles from his earlier professional titles. My only complaint is the subtitle - the book has only slightly over 4 pages on booktalking and no booktalks. So it is a bit deceptive in nature. As a summary of plots and suggested passages, it is superb. Am delighted to have my own copy. :-)

Also sent in my presenter information for a booktalking workshop I will be doing for school librarians in Kentucky in June. Can't wait to visit Lexington. I have been through that area many times on my trips between Texas and Michigan and Steve and I drove through on our way to Greenville from Missouri. The leaves were in their Autumn glory so it was a beautiful trip. Never had a chance to actually spend some time in the city though. Should be fun.

The students in my two literature classes at ECU have been wonderful with putting up with my quick emails to let them know the status of the manuscript and why I was not my talkative self on the first discussion board. They don't know what they are in for! :-) I am as talkative on the keyboard as in person, but you can't see my facial expressions, which is too bad. Steve says my face tells it all! So don't ask me for my opinion of something if you don't want my face to tell you the truth even if my mouth is trying very hard to be "delicate" about my impression. :-)

Now that my writing is caught up a bit, I am about to dive into Cameron Dokey's Before Midnight: A Retelling of "Cinderella". It will be out early in 2007 from Simon & Schuster. I'll let you know what I think - of course. But, now I really do need to get to those discussion boards and "meet" my new group of students.