What a gorgeous day! Sat outside for awhile drooling over all the cool international sites in the Conde Nast Traveler magazine while poor Sophie hid from the mockingbirds before catching up a bit on email.

We spent the morning cleaning house as the realtor showed it this afternoon. The "looker" wanted to see the subdivision pool so maybe they were very interested. A house similar in size to ours sold down the street so sales are starting to pick up. We drove down to a restaurant on the Kentucky River for lunch. I am still tasting the burger - yuck!! Won't be ordering a burger there again, but what a gorgeous day to sit and watch the river. Two pontoon boats on the river - they have to be crazy with the logs and other debris in the river after all the rain we've had.

Cover art on the June 15th issue of Time shows a twitter posting on a iPhone. I had to chuckle as I read the article about sharing your life in 140 spurts. Twitter was not this big when I wrote the article for YALS on cell phone novel bestsellers in Japan. In the U.S., we are using the cell phone to "talk" to each other rather than for authoring books 140 characters at a time. I am perplexed as to why we need to share what we had for breakfast via our cell phones, but I guess it isn't much different than what I am doing right now on this blog, but in short bursts during the day. Perhaps if I twittered I might actually share the "stuff" I remind myself to add to the blog and then I don't find the time to blog for days and having long since forgotten the "tidbit" I wanted to share.

The article that caught my attention more than the cover story on the "cultural force" twitter has become is the Coeli Carr's "No Souvenirs" article about adding radio frequency identification (RFID) to surgical sponges so they can be tracked. In other words, if the surgeon "forgets" to remove all the sponges during your surgery they can track them! This may seem like a bit much but I think it is a superb idea. Doctors will be more careful and if a mistake should be made they can find the sponge. Mic had his adenoids removed when tubes were put in his ears and the doctor left a sponge behind. Poor Mic had a nasty nasal discharge and the pediatrician kept saying he had a rash under his nose and sinus trouble, but Mic was miserable. It took months of going to the pediatrician with no results until I finally went to a different ear, nose and throat doc than the one who did Mic's surgery. He looked up Mic's nose, and before I could blink, stuck a thin nosed pair of tweezers up there and pulled out the nastiest smelling gross piece of gauze you have ever seen or smelled. And, before I could insist I wanted it for "evidence," he rushed out and flushed it down the toilet. So much for being able to do anything about the discomfort Mic went through and the multiple trips to the pediatrician. Tracking surgical sponges - I say, yeah - go for it!

I mentioned the writing/children's literature degrees that the new YA authors have in my last blog. New YA author Tonya Cherie Hegamin is also high educated, with an MFA in Writing for Children and is an alum of a writer's retreat. Hegamin calls herself a poet, but I would say she is also a gifted novelist. Her debut YA novel M+O 4EVR http://search.barnesandnoble.com/M-O-4EVR/Tonya-Hegamin/e/9780618495702/?itm=1 is stunning. This beautifully crafted contemporary novel about two childhood friends who become very different teens, drifting apart as they mature, also includes a poignant tale of a runaway slave who falls in love with the Native American who helps her escape. O, whose given name is Opal, is raised by her grandmother, the storyteller who weaves the slavery tale into the stories she tells O and M (Marianne) when they are little girls. They play in the woods near the ravine where the slave girl ran to her death rather than be captured. M is running with the wild crowd, while O hides behind the hat she pulls low on her head and too big guy's clothes, watching her childhood friend, the one she loves, leave her behind. One of the teens will find herself at the edge of this ravine and make a choice that will affect both their families. This is not a novel written in verse, but the economy of words in this poignant debut is the work of a gifted poet, a gift author.

I read Hegamin's novel a couple of weeks ago, so when I started going through the new Houghton Mifflin titles I was delighted to find Hegamin's debut picture book, Most Loved in All the World http://search.barnesandnoble.com/M-O-4EVR/Tonya-Hegamin/e/9780618495702/?itm=1, about a girl who is too little to help her mother pick cotton but not too little to carry water to the fields during the day and watch her mama work on a quilt at night that tells a story. Cozbi A. Cabrera's illustrations bring the little girl and her mama to live,l as well as the quilt that tells the story of freedom - the safe cabin, the tree with the moss on the north side, and the brightest star. Mama finishes the quilt, puts it over her arm, and takes her daughter into the night where she hands her, and the quilt, over to another woman who will take her to safety. Mama return to the fields and her role of helping other slaves escape to freedom. Hegamin includes an afterward for parents and teachers discussing the role quilts played in the Undeground Railroad as well as a short bibliography of further reading. Again, Hegamin beautifully exhibits her ability to tell a poignant story with an economy of words. A wonderful new title to share with children during storytime and to add to the recommended titles for teachers to use in their classroom during African History Month.

Sounds like they are having a party at the pool - hope they don't go too late. I don't mind being lulled to sleep by music, just not this kind of music! Now to finish watching Harper's Island - glad this is a TV show and not a R rated movie or I couldn't handle it. Kind of like Ten Little Indians with characters being killed off one by one.

I am sitting in the living room watching the news - we are getting good weather this weekend - up to the low 80s. :-) We have had so much rain and cold weather this week that Steve turned on the heat last night to take the chill out. Mary said they had frost warnings in Green Bay so I really shouldn't complain. I sat outside and brushed Sophie for a while this afternoon but we have 3 very irritating mockingbirds who make harassing Sophie their favorite thing to do. They will dive bomb her even if I am on the back porch with her. They must have a nest in a yard near us, but it is not in ours. We have a family of robins that we love but these dang mockingbirds are a pain with their screeching and pooping on our railings. Makes it difficult to enjoy the weather - we have the back door open and Sophie just came flying in! She must have gotten pecked. She will not try to swat at them and ignores them until they dive bomb her. Poor baby!



Since I have had to keep my foot elevated I had a chance to do some reading and I couldn't put down Graceling by Kristen Cashore http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Graceling/Kristin-Cashore/e/9780152063962/?itm=1 It is a 2009 William C. Morris YA Debut Award finalist http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/morris/finalists.cfm and rightfully so. For a debut novel it is stunning. It is no surprise that Cashore has a master's in children's literature as clearly she has honed her craft. I find it very interesting, as I research new authors and their Debut YA novels, that a large number of these authors have master's degrees in children's literature and clearly envisioned a career as a youth literature author. This realization makes me even more intrigued to meet these new authors via their debut novels. Cashore introduces Katsa, a young woman who has been trained to be a killer and does the dirty work for her uncle, the King, breaking bones and cutting off fingers to terrorize anyone who crosses him. Katsa does not question her role as the King's killer until she meets a young prince who can hold his own both in hand to hand combat with her as they help each other hone their fighting skills. Katsa leaves their "practice" sessions barely winded, but Po limps away with bruises even though Katsa is holding back. Katsa is a Graceling - she has two different color eyes and she had grown up assuming her Grace is to kill. Po, who is also a Graceling, with a Grace he does not initially share with her, will help her find her true Grace as well as save a young girl from a king even more savage than Katsa's uncle. I cannot wait for the sequel and wish I had been at BEA to get an ARC. Check out Cashore's blog as it has the cover art for the sequel Fire http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/. It is fun to read about a new author who is an excited to meet the author as we YA readers are. :-) Cashore is fellow blogspot blogger! I can't wait to read about Katsa and Po's next adventure. This is a romance but if you booktalk it from Po's point of view you'll have male fantasy readers loving it as well. Katsa may be the main character, but Po is a very strong companion character who holds his own and then some! A must have in every HS level YA collection.

I wish Sophie would be a bit more sassy and fight off the mockingbirds as would Rotten Ralph, one of my favorite fictional cats, created by one of my favorite authors - Jack Gantos. He is as funny in life as Rotten Ralph is on paper. It is hard to believe Rotten Ralph has been around since 1976, but now we can enjoy another one of this sassy cat's escapades as he learns he is running out of cat lives - oh no! I chuckled my way through The Nine Lives of Rotten Ralph http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Nine-Lives-of-Rotten-Ralph/Jack-Gantos/e/9780618800469/?itm=2 Oh what a delight to revisit a bit of Ralph's adventures as he lost 8 of his 9 lives. But, you know he isn't going to settle down - well, maybe a little bit! Nicole Rubel illustrates this latest edition to the Rotten Ralph saga and if seeing this naughty cat in a baby bonnet doesn't make you laugh, you have lost your sense of humor! Set this out on display along with the older Rotten Ralph titles and you'll pull in readers as well as current fans.

All for now. Have a wonderful weekend and take at least a few minutes to meet a character in a new YA or children's book who you can share next week at work. Yes, it is okay for adults to read children's and YA literature even if they don't work with teens or children. Just go on vacation and note the number of adults reading youth titles. I am not a big Harry Potter fan but these books have certainly made reading children's and YA books "cool"!

It is hard to believe but Steve and I will have been married for 7 years at 5:30 this afternoon. I am so bad with numbers and dates that he chose May 30 (5/30) at 5:30 so I would remember our anniversary date. And, he proposed on Thanksgiving so I don't have to remember a particular date. What a wild ride it has been from the economic crisis in Houston that sent us to the U.S. Virgin Islands to try island living (not to my liking) and now in horse country with the hopes of moving to Florida soon. Just waiting for the house to sell but we are in no big hurry as are some of the folks trying to sell before they default on their mortgage. Summers are a wonderful season in KY so I have no problem with waiting for the right buyer as long as we have to. There certainly hasn't been a dull moment since we met in 2001 and I thought I'd lost him before we had a chance to develop a relationship when he was supposed to be in the World Trade Center but, thankfully, missed his plane. Our guardian angels have been working over time for both of us.

We are going to dinner at the lovely Merrick Inn here in Lexington but I won't be able to wear cute little sandals due to the wound between my big and second toe. Who would have thought to look for moles between your toes? I would not have had I not read an article in a woman's magazine about skin cancer. I read anything I see on skin cancer as I have a not so lovely scar on my back due to the removal of a cancerous mole and surrounding tissue last summer. Well, the scar between my toes may mess with wearing my favorite style sandals, but two scars on my back certainly curtail any thoughts of a low back dress tonight! During my annual check up yesterday he found another mole on my back that had to be removed. Hopefully he took enough tissue around it this time that he doesn't have to go back in for more like he did last year. So ladies - have your significant other check your back and you check those odd places like between your toes, your belly button, and under your arms. The "bad" kind of moles tend to hide there. Am I paying for frying myself in baby oil as a teen? I am hoping the 15 years in Alaska where I rarely was in the direct sun will save me from too many more scars.

I finished up an article for Library Media Connection on new YA authors and their debut novels. which will be in the October issue. What fun research! One of the novels I read had started as the author's master's thesis and she won a writing contest sponsored by Canadian Orca Book Publishers who also publish the wonderful Soundings titles - high interest subjects/themes for teens with low reading levels. However, Leanne Lieberman's Gravity http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Gravity/Leanne-Lieberman/e/9781554690497/?itm=1 is not one of the easy read titles and it certainly doesn't let you forget about it once you close the book. You feel like you have vicariously spent time with Ellie Gold as she comes to terms with her own sexuality within the very confining rules of her religion and culture - her family is Orthodox Jewish. Ellie's older sister can't wait to leave home for college but Ellie finds security in her faith and the rituals that go with it. Then she spends part of the summer with her non-Orthodox grandmother at a lake outside of Toronto and Ellie discovers that the barely clad body of the neighbor, Lindsay, is more interesting than the frogs science-minded Ellie has been observing. Ellie is infatuated with Lindsay and when she's back in Toronto she walks by Lindsay's school in the hopes they will "accidentally" bump into each other. Before Ellie realizes what is happening she is in a sexual relationship with Lindsay, forcing Ellie to examine her attraction to females and how it impacts her faith.

One of my favorite children's authors is Barbara Joosse, whose name you may recognize from her Mama, Do You Love Me? http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Mama-Do-You-Love-Me/Barbara-M-Joosse/e/9780877017592/?itm=1 with a lyrical text complimented beautifully by the Arctic set illustrations of Alaskan artist Barbara Lavallee. This book is a delight to read aloud as is In the Night Garden http://search.barnesandnoble.com/In-the-Night-Garden/Barbara-M-Joosse/e/9780805066715/?itm=1 in which three little girls pretend to be different animals - a bear, a sled dog and a whale - as they play outside as evening sets in and it is time to go to bed. Elizabeth Sayles' illustrations, lush with pastel shades of blue and purple, perfectly compliment the simple text as three distinctly different little girls (one blonde, one in dreads, and one with short black hair in pigtails)"Rraaaaow, Haaoooo, and Eeeee" as a bear, dog, and whale as they prepare for bed. I cannot wait to read this one with my granddaughter McKinley and let her do the roaring, howling, and whale song along with me. Barbara Joosee will always hold a special place in my heart as she went out of her way to be emotionally supportive to me after Mic died. It was as if she had written him as a young child into her I Love You the Purplest http://search.barnesandnoble.com/I-Love-You-the-Purplest/Barbara-M-Joosse/e/9780811807180/?itm=2 where two siblings, one fierce (my Mary-although both book characters are boys) and one shy (my Mic) want to know who their mother loves best. I could not have found a better way to tell my children how my love for each of them is as individual and unique as they are. She has a gift for writing books that we parents need to share with our little ones - she helps us say, through her stories, the very things for which we can't find words of our own.

While I was working on this blog entry, Steve came home with a wonderful light lime green floppy brimmed hat for me with UVA protection so I can still ride with him in his car with the top down. And a picture of horses racing in the snow - to remind us of the first year we watched races at Keeneland - the last race was in white out conditions! My presents for him have a Florida theme (a solar lighthouse, a scaled to size sailboat to sit next to it, and a small potted palm tree) whereas his is Kentucky themed right down to a matching stuffed horse and key ring whose crazy sounding neighs indicates they got into some fermented oats! I'm going to wear the tiny, but very detailed, horse earrings tonight. :-) I am sure our next 7 years together will be as full of fun and adventures as our last almost 8 together has been.

I am thoroughly disgusted with myself that I have not blogged in a month! I talk to my students about time management, but I let myself get caught up in spending way too much time dealing with emails and that is just my ECU email. I rarely check my yahoo one anymore as I just don't have the time. I was just reading through the ALA newsletter and feeling overwhelmed with only browsing through the connections to myriad social networking options, YouTube library/youth literature related videos, etc. I could spend all day online. My goal is to limit my time daily on email - we'll see if it works.

Today is my last day of "vacation" between Spring semester and the Summer session. And, basically I haven't taken a day off during the break. Somehow it is much more time consuming to bring a new Blackboard site up than it used to be to update lecture notes, etc. when I taught face to face classes. It is amazing how many URLs I list in the course documents that have to be updated each semester. I feel like the Internet has taken over control of me!

This morning I was going through the last of the Sunday paper while watching NBC and there was a short piece on a group of teens who went without their cell phones and other electronic "toys" for 10 days. Wow - they actually did their homework and communicated with their families! I can't imagine bringing up kids in this technology glutted world where they'd rather text message than spend time with real people. I have been wavering over whether or not I am going to "treat" myself to an iPhone. Do I really want to be able to check my email from my phone? The more I think about it the less I like the idea. Perhaps we all need to have a "technology free" time during our day.

I type this in my home office with six 5-shelf bookcases filled to the brim - some of them double-shelved with children's, YA, and youth services professional print materials. Looking around at the books helps me feel grounded in a world where I feel like the lone wolf who has yet to explore Second Life or other virtual worlds. I know me - I could get lost in those worlds like I do in my books. And honestly - I rather the comfort of my books, whether I read them or listen to them.

Speaking of listening to books. I listened to Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Tree-Grows-in-Brooklyn/Betty-Smith/e/9781433203138/?pv=y and savored all 14 hours of it. I remember reading it when I was a tween, but I missed out on so much reading it as such an "innocent". I found myself smiling at the irony of young Francie Nolan's Aunt Cissy calling all of her "husbands" John no matter what their name actually was. I even chuckled aloud when I caught the old b/w movie version of it the other day and noted that they had changed the generic husband name to Bill instead of John. I guess the "hooker" connotation was too much for the time period. Heck - it went right over my head when I first read it! The author grew up in the same part of Brooklyn her protagonist did, in a time when families like the Nolans were the poor who lived in buildings where families shared a bathroom and knew everyone else's business. Francie adored her alcoholic father and disliked her mother, who was the strength and backbone of the family. It wasn't until her mother is in labor, with a child born after the father dies, that Francie realizes her mother does need her more than her beloved younger brother. So often we give children and teens books, especially classics, with young protagonists, assuming because the characters are children or teens that the book is appropriate. Somehow "maturity level" of the reader does not come into play when we recommend classics as they are so much "tamer" than the modern day young adult novels. I beg to differ! As I listened to Francie's tale I pondered why a teacher had recommended to me, but then again, she was the same teacher who had us reading Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter in 9th grade English- I didn't "get" that one until I read it again in college!

As far as a true YA novel goes - one of my favorites of late is Alex Flinn's A Kiss in Time http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Kiss-in-Time/Alex-Flinn/e/9780060874193/?itm=4 which came out in April. When you have had enough of the gritty, edgy YA realistic fiction (I often feel this way) and want something fun to read - grab this one. If you have kept up with my blog you'll know Alexandra is one of my all time favorite YA authors. She can "blow you away" with her edgy contemporary realistic novels such as Breathing Underwater http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Breathing-Underwater/Alex-Flinn/e/9780064472579/?itm=2 that addresses abuse from the 16-year-0ld teenage abuser's point of view and Breaking Point http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Breaking-Point/Alex-Flinn/e/9780064473712/?itm=5 where we hold our breath as we vicariously live through Charlie being tormented by his fellow private school classmates. And then she can merge the contemporary setting with the fantastical fairy tale in Beastly http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Beastly/Alex-Flinn/e/9780060874179/?itm=9 - a contemporary Beauty and the Beast. One cannot help but chuckle over the online chat room for "creatures" such as the Beast. I love her sense of humor! So after enjoying her first foray into the fantastical, I knew I'd enjoy A Kiss in Time. Growing up on fairy tales, I knew Princess Talia would indeed prick her finger on a spindle and be awoken by a kiss, but this is where the story takes a contemporary detour. The kiss is laid on her by a less than charming contemporary teenage Jack who gets lost while sneaking away to look for adventure on his European tour. He certainly isn't seeking true love. Alternating between Talia's and Jack's perspective, the reader is allowed to vicariously watch this unlikely couple learn to care about each other. For girls who love chick lit and fantasy this will be a delight. Suggest it as a fun read for the beach or at the pool.

I do love fantasy and would read nothing but if I were totally selfish. So, I (who despises what Disney has done to the great traditional tales of the past) admit I watched Enchanted http://video.barnesandnoble.com/DVD/Enchanted/Amy-Adams/e/786936716061/?itm=2 while "wallowing" in the New York Times yesterday morning. I constantly have to remind myself that if I am going to stay current with children's and teens' reading/viewing/listening materials I need to go beyond my own "comfort level". However, the only character I was enchanted with in this movie was the chipmunk! What a dorky movie, but little girls/tweens/teens/adult women (!) who still want to be princesses will enjoy it. I'd prefer they watch Ella Enchanted http://video.barnesandnoble.com/DVD/Ella-Enchanted/Anne-Hathaway/e/786936244892/?itm=3 with Anne Hathaway as the self reliant princess who can take on wicked stepmothers and sisters as she fights to overcome her curse of being obedience. Then hand them Ellen Carson Levine's wonderful tween novel of the same name, which this movie is based on http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ella-Enchanted/Gail-Carson-Levine/e/9780064407052/?itm=1.

Okay - that's it for today. :-)

One of my Young Adult literature students, Katie Allen, went to listen to Laurie Halse Anderson talk about her new book, Wintergirls http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Wintergirls/Laurie-Halse-Anderson/e/9780670011100/?itm=1 and had her picture taken with Anderson. I've not read this searing YA novel that came out in March, about the impact of anorexia on both the sufferer and the ones who love her, but it is on my "gotta read" list. I haven't read one of Laurie's books that I haven't loved. If it is as heart wrenching as Speak http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Speak/Laurie-Halse-Anderson/e/9780142407325/?itm=1 (and the reviews indicate it is) it will be one you will not forget. The latest issue of VOYA has a poem that Anderson wrote, the text of which is primarily taken from letters she has received from teen readers of Speak. This edgy YA novel is about an incoming freshman, raped at an end of the summer party, who is so traumatized by the rape and by being ostracizing by the other students, that she does not talk until circumstances force her to speak out.

The other picture is of the autograph on Katie's copy of Twisted http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Twisted/Laurie-Halse-Anderson/e/9780142411841/?itm=5 I totally agree - librarians are angels. :-) This YA novel about Kyle, a teen who is just a body in the mass of teens in his high school - a social nobody. That is, until he is caught spray painting graffiti on the walls of the school. After a summer in the sun doing community service, getting tanned and buff, he becomes the bad boy the girls find irresistible, including the daughter of his father's boss. Getting involved with her is a bad idea and when half clothed photographs of her end up on the Internet everyone assumes Kyle is the one who posted them. Kyle would like to go back to being the invisible one in the high school social scene but it is too late now.

I wish Spring would decide to stay instead of making short visits and then leaving us with winter weather. Poor Sophie - she is now a short haired cat, but the vet left her with a long ruff around her neck and her tail long. I think she looks cute, but she is quite mortified. Downside of getting rid of her mass of shedding fur - she is more susceptible to this cold weather. I left her out once and she started sneezing and had a runny nose. She is still quite irritated with me about both the new "do" and not being able to go outside. If it would warm up I'd let her out but BRRRR!! If we get the house sold and move to the Miami area she will be a happy kitty again, chasing geckos like she did in the islands.

I hope it warms up this weekend as Steve's older brother and wife arrive for a short visit and, of course, we are headed to the horse races at Keeneland. I did great on opening day - well, for the first 5 races, then Steve told the guy behind the betting window that I was going to lose the next race. He jinxed me - not only did I lose that race, I lost every single one from there on out. Good thing I only do $2 bets. Hopefully we'll have better luck this weekend. I have picked my favorite jockey Kent Desormeaux. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Desormeaux I learned the hard way not to bet against a horse he is racing. He's good! I just hope I don't have to be bundled up in my winter coat, two sweaters, a hat, scarf, gloves, etc. as I was on opening day of the races.

Speaking of bundled up, I laughed out loud at the picture of bundled up children building an ice sculpture dog in Alta Norway in 2001 in Ayana Lowe's Come and Play: Children of Our World Having Fun http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Come-and-Play/Ayana-Lowe/e/9781599902463/?itm=1 . The child who picked this picture to write about in Lowe's multicultural class named the "word riff," (what Lowe calls the short poems that accompany pictures of children at play around the world) Blue Night. I felt like a knew these kids, all bundled up and wearing fur hats - hats I had seen kids my own age wearing while growing up in Upper Michigan as well as on kids playing with my own children in Alaska. What photograph will you connect with?

April is poetry month (you can find cool things do with your students at: http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41) and this collection of short poems written by children in response to photographs of children at play around the world is a great place to start celebrating poetry month. Share this cool book of photographs and poetry with children and adults alike. The photographs are from the Magnum Photos collection. Check it out at http://www.magnumphotos.com/. Oh could I spend a lot of time just exploring this site. The main page currently has a photograph slide show of various photographs depicting springtime. Come and Play is a visual feast that both children and adults will devour over and over again as they "spy" on children at play. What "word riff" would I write about the little Norwegian kids - hmmmm - something to think about. Perhaps I'll write a "word riff" or two of my own to celebrate poetry month.

Well, the for sale sign is up in the front yard. The new realty company, a couple who work together, were here to take pics and for us to sign papers. One step closer to our move to Florida. With today being one of my worse fibro days in a long time the warm moist weather of southern Florida sounds better and better. Even though I could barely move this morning I got up and helped Steve pick up and clean. By the time they left I was shivering with the chills. My darling Steve went and got us our regular Steak & Shake burgers and brought them home and ate lunch with me while I sat in my fuzzy winter bathrobe. He went off to the gym and I took a nap. It's going to be a do a bit of work from bed and nap when needed kind of day. I've been really pushing myself since the surgery in February - I should know better but no one but me knows what to do with my books and I brought home a car full when I moved out of my ECU office. So, as I sit here trying to join the world of the totally awake, I'm watching one of my favorite movies - The Last of the Dogmen with Barbara Hershey and Tom Berenger. Good description of it at: http://www.classicdvds4less.com/ProductInfo.aspx?ID=136 Puts Dances with Wolves to shame for wonderful Indian adventure movies and one of Berenger's best.

My YA book for today is Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Jumped/Rita-Williams-garcia/e/9780060760915/?itm=1 It is not my favorite of hers - that would be Every Time a Rainbow Dies http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Every-Time-a-Rainbow-Dies/Rita-Williams-Garcia/e/9780064473033/?itm=1 in which quiet sixteen-year-old Thulani, whose mother has died and is not living up to his older brother's expectations, comes to the rescue of a young woman who is raped and left battered in an alley but she berates him rather than being thankful. Thulani is fascinated by her reaction and works his way into her life. This is a beautiful, edgy and sometimes harsh urban novel for older teens. It is not one you will forget. Jumped is also set in an urban environment, but addresses the brutality of girl on girl violence. The central figures are three high school girls - a basketball player with an attitude, an artistic pretty girl who thinks the world's, at least all the boys', eyes are on her, and Leticia who spends more time telling her friend on the phone about what is happening around her than living her own life, including doing the right thing. When ditsy Trina gets in the way of angry Dominque, who has been kicked off the team for bad grades, Leticia hears Dominque brag to her friends that Trina is going to get tromped after school. Even with her friend on the phone begging her to tell the school security guard what she heard, Leticia doesn't. She just watches and Trina pays the price. It's much easier not to get involved, but can you live with the results of not standing up for an innocent who has no idea she is about to get jumped? Williams-Garcia raises many questions in this edgy YA novel of the harshness of the urban high school environment from the perspective of three distinctly African American teenage girls.

Remember the optical illusion that when you first look at it what appears are facial profiles but upon another look - it is a vase? In a similar vein, Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld offer up a visual delight with a touch of humor in Duck! Rabbit http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Duck-Rabbit/Amy-Krouse-Rosenthal/e/9780811868655/?itm=1 While doing a school visit together Lichtenheld drew the duckrabbit figure and the kids loved it. So did Rosenthal and she insisted it could be the basis for a book. Sure enough, the simple but irresistible picture of what looks like a rabbit with ears laid back or a duck with an open bill that the illustrator had seen in a college course called Zen and Freud and stayed with him since is now an absolutely addictive children's (well, all ages as I am certainly not a child, though my inner child is very alive and well) picture books. How fun read and discuss whether the illustrations are of a is a duck opening his bill to eat a piece of bread, quacking, wading through the swamp, flying, getting a drink etc. or a rabbit eating a carrot, sniffing at something, hiding in the grass, or hopping away. And of course, they leave you with yet another illustration open for discussion as to what it is - a dinosaur or an anteater - or perhaps you see something else altogether. Such a simple, but absolutely incredible visual feast to behold and visit over and over again, no matte what your age. But, I can't wait to read this one with the grandkids.

Okay - I think I am clear headed enough to do some grading! I don't wish fibro fog on anyone - gets totally in the way of concentration and I've even typed words that have no connection whatsoever to what I was thinking, so clearly the fingers and the brain do not always work in conjunction of a bad fibro day!

The trees in our yard don't realize just how cold and nasty it is. Spring hasn't quite sprung for us yet but our little plum tree, really more like a scrub at this point, is glorious in its pink blooms and the lilacs bushes are sprouting leaves. Can't wait until they bloom - lilacs mean home. Picking lilacs with my dad was an annual event when I was a little girl - I can close my eyes and smell them. My father and I didn't have a very good relationship, well pretty much no relationship, after my mom died. But, as a little girl I thought the world revolved around him - at least mine did. For years purple was my favorite color, and it still is to a degree - but now it is deep purplish blue as the color blue has become an integral part of my life. I am becoming my mother without even trying and I am proud to see myself resembling the incredible woman my mom was - even down to her forgetfulness. Just about every place mat I have bought for both the dining room and kitchen table are shades of blue and I wake up every morning to Georgia O'Keefe's 1925 Petunia that looks like it has blueberries in the center. http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Petunia-1925-Posters_i290791_.htm I didn't notice the resemblance to blueberries until very recently but it makes me smile as I think of mom busy picking wild blueberries.


But, lilacs will not bloom in Florida - they need a cold freeze to bloom. But, there are lilacs that bloom in Texas, Denton to be exact. White Lilacs, written by Carolyn Meyer in the mid 90's http://search.barnesandnoble.com/White-Lilacs/Carolyn-Meyer/e/9780152058517/?itm=1i s a poignant YA novels for tweens about the prejudice of a small Texas town - comparing the life of young Rose Lee who lives in the all African American Freedomtown until the white folks run them out and create a park for the young women of Texas Woman's University - not called that yet in the 1920's. Yes, I remember this book in part because of the symbolism of the lilac blooming even in the worst of times, but also because I went to school at TWU. It is still in print, which says a lot about the quality and appeal of the novel.

Why did I mention lilacs won't bloom in Florida? We will be moving to FL if/when our home here in Lexington sells. We are in no hurry so I will surely get to see our lilacs bloom this summer. That's why we drove to the Miami area during Spring Break - to get some idea where we'd like to live. I can say it certainly will not be Miami proper. I thought the drivers in Dallas were nuts - they are old ladies in Buicks compared to the drivers on I95 in Miami. I laughed out loud at the below term from Urban Dictionary. Let's just say I wore the "passenger brake" out in the car! We will be looking a bit farther north or south where doing 75 mph isn't considered standing still.

March 26: Passenger Brake
The passenger brake is the nonexistent brake pedal located on the floor of the passenger (shotgun) side of the front seat of your car. It is used instinctively by the passenger when the driver is driving insanely too fast, and the car needs to come quickly to a stop, which may not seem very possible at that particular moment. It is sometimes used in conjunction with the OH SHIT handle by the passenger door.
Doris was using her passenger brake all the freaking way here. She's the one who made us late getting started from home by taking so long to get herself ready! I was just trying to make up some time getting through traffic...

My YA book for today is Lara M. Zeises' The Sweet Life of Stella Madison, http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=sweet+life+of+stella+madison a Delacorte title that will come out in July. Lara calls herself a foodie and her love of food is very evident in this delightful YA novel about the daughter of foodie parents have been separated for years, but are still very close. Stella's mother is the grounded one with the business sense whereas her father is the chef who closes his own restaurant down for a period each year to travel throughout Europe to savor new foods, but mostly new wines. Stella has worked at her mother's restaurant, the Open Kitchen, where guest chefs are "on stage" to cook for a loyal following as well as new converts. Stella is content in her relationship with boyfriend - sweet Max. That is until her mother hires a new intern who looks as good as he cooks! Stella's crush on Jeremy and his flirtatious behavior toward her is not helping matters any. Exactly how far do you have to go to consider it cheating on your boyfriend? Does taking Jeremy to dinner at your father's restaurant count? Does thinking about him way too much count? Does wanting him to kiss you count? Stella's BFF's tell her to get a grip, but Stella's hormones are not making it easy. To further complicate her life, Stella is offered a summer newspaper internship and her own column, The Sweet Life of Stella Madison, in which she writes about food, mostly as a restaurant critic. Stella is not a foodie like her parents - she'd just as soon stop at Burger King. But, with some help from the gorgeous Jeremy, Stella realizes she is not so unlike her parents. Many of the chapters begin with the evening menu at the Open Kitchen, which I am sure will make many readers' mouths water. I hate to admit it, but I skipped them after the first one - like reading a foreign language to me. Foodie I am not - hard to be when you don't' eat any diary and have recently also added soy to the "no-no" list. However, this non-foodie loves Stella and her antics at the Open Kitchen as well as dealing with two guys and two best friends and parents who may be falling in love, but not with each other. A delicious read to say the least!

I'll be teaching an Early Childhood Materials course this summer so I have been reading lots of board books and other fun books for little ones. The Bedtime Train by Joy Cowley, illustrated by Jamison Odone. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Bedtime-Train/Joy-Cowley/e/9781590784938/?itm=1 stands out, not only for it's large size, but for its beauty. However, be careful using it with little ones prone to nightmares as there are growling bears, dinosaurs and alligators galore as a little boy and Brad, the train engineer who looks a lot like Dad, go on a rhyming night time ride. The illustrations compliment the text beautifully and are in muted colors so that even the growling bears are not so scary - especially when the little boy sits on the edge of his bed and sticks his tongue out at them. :-) With the wolves and cold, it reminds me a bit of The Polar Express by Van Allsburg http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Polar-Express/Chris-Van-Allsburg/e/9780395389492/?itm=1 but this has no holiday theme. The illustrations, especially the little boy, remind me more of Sendak's In the Night Kitchen http://search.barnesandnoble.com/In-the-Night-Kitchen/Maurice-Sendak/e/9780064434362/?itm=1 with their dream like feel. And anyone who has read my blog knows this is an all time favorite of mine. Although some of the creatures are a bit creepy, this is the perfect storybook for the little boys who love trains. They'll be joining in on the "Chugga-chugga, toot-toot. Chugga-chugga, toot-toot." refrain. The illustrations are rich in detail and little ones will find new details each time their parents (especially dads) are asked to read it again and again. It doesn't have to bedtime to share this delightful book about a little boy and his ingenious ways to save the day, or I should say night, with gumballs. :-) Cowley has been awarded the New Zealand Commemorative Medal for her service to children's literature. This Front Street publication of what started out as a story in Highlights magazine comes alive through Odone's incredible art. There are pages I'd love proofs of to frame and put on my wall.

Okay, on the not so fun stuff - grading.

It is a week past Spring Break and I still don't feel like I had a break! We drove down to Florida and stopped in Savannah for the night. We stayed at The Mansion on Forsythe Park - which is supposed to have several ghosts in residence. We did not see any as much as Steve tried to pretend he was one. Let's just say his ghost moans elicit chuckles, not shrieks of fear!!

Check out the pictures: http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll?qscr=dspv&flag=l&itid=&itdx=&itty=&from=f&foop=0&hwrq=&htid=1160188&spsh=&spsi=&crti=4&nfla=1&mdpcid=21187-1.ExpediaHotelImagesUS+Hotel_Review+GTEST Anyway, we stopped at the gorgeous lounge in the Drayton restaurant adjoining the hotel and chatted with lovely Breigh - yes, sounds like the cheese. She suggested we eat at the Noble Fare http://www.noblefare.com/main.html - superb food! We didn't have reservations, had to sit outside in the beautiful evening air to wait to sit at the bar to dine, but it was worth the wait. The young couple who recently opened this restaurant clearly have a following already as there wasn't an empty table and they don't advertise in the tourist mags. Supposedly there's a ghost or two in this building too but we didn't see any. We stopped back at the lounge to thank Breigh and encountered one of the "ugly people". Too bad she was all too real instead of just a nasty ghost. We were dressed very casually and she let us know from the look on her face that she didn't think we belonged there as she sat texting on her phone. There were two open seats next to her but she made it quite clear one was for her husband and she was not about to move down one, which she certainly could have so we could sit together. We were both so offended by her rude behavior that we later said we should have sat on either side of her and leaned forward and talked across her. She personified Rich Bitch to the nth degree. I'd like to think she was just a nasty tourist in town and not a local as everyone else we have encountered in Savannah have been very friendly and helpful. But isn't is amazing how we remember the "snots" we meet more readily than the nice folks?



I'll write more about the vacation and my impression of Miami drivers, but that's for another time.



Some folks who read my blog may remember when I raved about Suzanne Crowley's The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Very-Ordered-Existence-of-Merilee-Marvelous/Suzanne-Crowley/e/9780061231971/?itm=1 Such a beautifully written book - you can read my review on her site: http://www.suzannecrowley.com/a_r.html



So when I received the ARC of Suzanne's new book The Stolen One http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Stolen-One/Suzanne-Carlisle-Crowley/e/9780061232015/?itm=2 I was surprised to see it is historical fiction, but even the most resistant reader of historical fiction will pick this book up because of the gorgeous cover. Kat Bab is arrestingly beautiful with her wild red hair - cover art is on Crowley's web site: http://www.suzannecrowley.com/stolenone.html Kat is a skilled seamstress, embroidering copies of her own detailed drawing of the flora and fauna around their rural cottage - very far away from the intrigue of Queen Elizabeth's court, where sixteen-year-old Kat will soon find herself as one of the Queen's "pets". Kat must choose between the luxuries of the court and the love of the young pear farmer she has left behind. Crowley has weaved a lush tale of love and intrigue as elaborate as the stitches on the dress, a personal gift for the Queen, that Kat is embellishing with creatures, both light and dark. The historical figures of Elizabethan England come to life on the pages of The Stolen One as real as the author-created characters - no history lesson here as often happens with an author less skilled - who come so vividly to life that the reader's mouth waters as Kat bites into a luscious pear from her beloved's orchard and noses wrinkle in disgust along with Kat's as she is bombarded by her first breath of the putrid air of London. This HarperCollins title will arrive in bookstores in early July - just in time to take on your summer vacation. Make sure you have a tall glass of iced tea next to you as you will lose track of time while wandering country lanes or castle hallways with Kat.



That's it for tonight.

What a busy day! Wasn't even quite awake yet when I started working on pulling things together for the dreaded annual review. I know, I know - if I had done this a little bit at a time all year it wouldn't be such a pain. Well, I did some of it during the year but it still needs to be structured, etc. This time of the year academics are busy killing lots of trees as they make copies of publications and every other shred of evidence to prove what a gloriously busy researcher, writer, teacher, advisor, service oriented professional you've been in the last 12 months.

Since we had so much fun at the opening night of Mama Mia! at the Lexington Opera House last night I haven't grumped as much as I normally do when I begin the ritual killing of trees as I use reams of paper and way too many ink cartridges. I was humming show tunes as I sorted. I have the play bill in front of me and can't help but smile. Since we are season ticket holders for Broadway Live at the Opera House this year, we were invited to the Cast Party afterward. I have a bunch of autographs, from Liana Hunt (Sophie) to Adam Jacobs (Sky). Who I really enjoyed was Adam Michael Kaokept who played Pepper - he was hilarious both on and off stage. He has the most infectious smile - you can't help but smile back. Steve and I had the delightful opportunity to chat with Martin Kildare, who played the Aussie, Bill Austin. Although he said he'd rather be back home in Southern California with regular TV roles, he certainly came across as a man who loves his job, no matter where the stage happens to be. What a nice group of people and clearly they had enjoyed their opening night as much as the audience. All and all what a fun night in a gorgeous facility that has been remodeled and there isn't a bad seat in the house. http://www.lexingtonoperahouse.com/ Now to see if I can find my CD of the movie soundtrack. I bought it even before I saw the movie as I am a big Abba fan. And yes, I did have a pair of platform boots back in the 70s! I will put the playbill and our tickets in the memory box I am keeping for McKinley, who turned one on Tuesday and I wasn't there to give her a kiss. Hopefully long after I am gone she'll enjoy going through the box and seeing all the cool (at least I think so) things her Gramma did.

Since I'm in a bit of a chick flick mood, I'll talk about Girls by Tucker Shaw http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Girls/Tucker-Shaw/e/9780810983489/?itm=1, an Abrams YA novel that will hit bookstores in April. Love the cover of - two girls gossiping over a take out coffee - title and author on band around the cup. Very bottom of cup - CAUTION - HOT GOSSIP! Oh yes - both the coffee and the gossip are hot. And, even though Tucker Shaw is a guy - there isn't one guy in the book - well, not as a character with dialogue. The back cover states: "A modern retelling of the classic play The Women by Clare Booth Luce (which featured not one male in the cast)." You may recognize the author's name as I am a big fan of Flavor of the Week http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Flavor-of-the-Week/Tucker-Shaw/e/9780641825804/?itm=1 - my mouth was watering as chubby good-guy Cyril bakes and cooks, with his heart right out on the baking sheet for all to see, but the girl he loves is seeing his best friend. Girls also has a foodie - Peggy - a college student who lives, eats and breaths food. When she is stressed she makes up wacky food combinations - some of which might actually be quite good! The recipes at the end of the book are so delicious, even on paper, that they may have even non-foodies rolling up their sleeves and pulling out the pots and pans gathering dust in the cupboards. Tucker is the food editor for the Denver Post so he know what he writes about. Oh dear - got carried away - back to the book. Peggy's best friend Mary is dating a rich guy who is sleeping with the manipulative poor girl Crystal, who works in the store where the rich snow bunnies buy their jeans. But when Amber, who dishes more gossip than biscotti at the coffee shop, and vicious Sylvia, find out about what Mary's beau has been up to, well - the gossip is honed to a nasty edge and Peggy is too sweet to tell Mary about what she's heard. Of course she is going to find out and of course, Peggy SHOULD have told her! Tucker has again created a fun, quick read, with great recipes, that will get passed from girl to girl once it hits your library. They'll be talking about Mary's revenge, everyone's clothes, and maybe even digging out that old George Foreman sandwich press that their mom got for Christmas once upon a time. How can you not want to try Peggy's special grilled cheese sandwich recipe?

I have been a Don and Audry Wood fan for many years. King Bidgood's in the Bathtub is my all time favorite of theirs. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/King-Bidgoods-in-the-Bathtub/Audrey-Wood/e/9780152427306/?itm=1 What Don Wood can do with the use of shading and color is amazing in this book. So, when Into the Volcano http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Into-the-Volcano/Don-Wood/e/9780439726719/?itm=1 came across my desk I had to dive into it. Add great graphic novel author/artist to Woods' many accolades. This over-sized color graphic novel will have even the most resistant male reader involved in a matter of a page flip. Duffy and Sumo are brothers who don't seem to agree on much of anything, with Sumo voicing his opinion loud and clear while Duffy quietly sorts things out. But, neither are thrilled about the idea of spending 10 days on the volcanic island of Kocalaha, but if they knew they'd be risking their lives in lava tubes underground, they surely would have even less inclined to spend time with an auntie they didn't know they had. They think their archaeologist mother is completing a research project in Borneo but she has been in the tunnels beneath the island for two months, trying to protect beautiful green "jewels" that can, when combined with other elements such as copper or calcium, do everything from sweeten a drink to become a super conductor. As an adult I found this part of the tale fascinating, but most younger readers will hold their breath along with Duffy and Sumo as they navigate their way through the lava tube tunnels. For anyone who has been to the Big Island of Hawaii, the culture will feel familiar, but even for those who have never visited Volcano National Park, this is a visually fast paced survival story that elementary and middle school age boys will revisit and share with friends. Soon the book will open by itself to Chapter 15 "Death Drops By" - even I am fascinated by the creepy skeleton with a red rubber nose. Can you imagine climbing up a wall of skulls, using eye sockets as finger holds and run into this boney dude? Very gross, but oh so enticing - you just have to keep going back to look at this skeleton - "PEEK.... AHHHHHH BOO! SQUEEZE MY NOSE"... Creepy. This is an absolutely, positively gotta have book in every library that serves boys, and girls, from ages 8-12. Oh heck - all ages! You will be happily buying mutiple copies of this Scholastic hardback - even at full retail price of $18.99 - this book is a steal.

Enough rambling for tonight.

Okay - I need a break from my email! There are days I yearn for years gone by (seems like eons ago, and yes, I feel that old some days!) when snail mail was the norm for communication with a phone call for emergencies. When I lived in Alaska and my kids were little I can remember writing long letters to both my mom and my sister-in-law who has kids only a couple months apart in age from Mary and Mic. Life was so much slower back then! No longer do I wait to hear the mailman go by, but I am sorely tempted to check every time I hear the "bing" that a new message has popped into my work email inbox. And, I don't even want to think of the thousands of emails in my yahoo account inbox. I haven't had time to check it in weeks. What wonderful discussions am I missing on adbooks and YALSA-bk? Too many electronic means of communication and not enough hours in the day!!

With that little tirade out of my system I now need a "book fix". More than a few of my YA literature students have read Anna Godbersen's Luxe http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Luxe/Anna-Godbersen/e/9780061345661 so I had to find out what they were so intrigued with and I gobbled it up in two sitting. Would have been one, but sleep won the battle during sitting one. A group of New York society girls fighting over the same guys - sounds like Gossip Girls, but so much better!! Well, better for those of us who love historical fiction and the glorious dresses and fancy surroundings described in detail. Oh, for the days of the floor length "bad girl" dresses Penelope Hayes wears and to be scandalized by a man's hand on a woman's ankle! Well, she, and other females in the book, did a whole lot more than let the "bad boy" Henry fondle their ankles, but the details are left for the reader's imagination to fill in whatever steamy detail desired. As the story ends with the "good girl's" funeral (no body to bury) and a smile on the younger sister's face as she enters the church, readers will go searching for Rumors http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Rumors/Anna-Godbersen/e/9780061345692/?itm=3 to find out what antics spicy little sister Dianna has up the sleeve of her ruffled gown. And, then reach for Evny http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Envy/Anna-Godbersen/e/9780061345722/?itm=1 to read to find out who really gets the "bad boy". I now have to go searching through my shelves to find the next two in the series as although I have read the reviews and I know who gets him, I want to know all the details of how she did and what she did to the other socialites to get him. Oh what a juicy read this series is!

Now, with a shake of my head - to clear the brain from scenes of 1899 New York City - I have to share Good Night Baby Ruby by Rohan Henry. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Good-Night-Baby-Ruby/Rohan-Henry/e/9780810983236/?itm=1 The very simplicity of Henry's drawings of Ruby with her spiral twists of hair standing on end and kitty, who may have caused some of the mess it appears Ruby created, will have parents and their little ones revisiting this book many times before baby eyes will close at night. The line drawings, with various pieces of clothing and other elements in the room in solid shades of pink, blue, red, and yellow, beg to be explored over and over - with little fingers pointing out details such as the yellow bee in the cloth book on the nursery floor, the floppy stuffed bunny's red nose, or kitty's pink tongue when she yawns. I absolutely adore this book! This is the first picture book by this author of Jamaican roots - but I say - More! More!

Okay - now back to my email!

I really feel awful that I haven't blogged more often. I made a New Year's resolution that I would blog at least once a week - well, I certainly failed miserably. I got behind almost as soon as the semester started. Then I fell down the steps while in Denver for ALA Midwinter and the fact that I landed as much on my left hand as my knee and head hasn't helped with my ability to type or write. My sprained left thumb has really made me realize how much we use our thumbs! And, that I can't do squat with my right hand - including buttoning my jeans! I still have the remnants of a very colorful swollen black eye - thank goodness my glasses covered some of it, but I sure did get a few looks.

Then I flew home just as the ice storm hit - the airport in Lexington was closed so I flew into Cincinnati. Poor Steve had to drive up and get me. I couldn't even tell what color my Santa Fe is when he pulled up -it had a good 2 inches of ice on it. The drive home was a white knuckle one with semis flying past us and covering us with slush and snow. Then we couldn't get up the drive way, either with the car or on foot! Steve helped me into the grass and I clomped my way through the ice covering the grass around to the back door and then realized these steps were glare ice too. After falling in Denver I was scared spitless of falling again. That wasn't bad enough - I had a doctor's appointment the next day and we actually went! There were tree limbs on top of cars and blocking streets and then it started to snow like crazy when we went to leave the clinic. I am so sick of winter!!!

I just finished reading Gentlemen by Michael Northrup. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Gentlemen/Michael-Northrup/e/9780545097499/?itm=5 - a Scholastic title that will come out in April. We have some great YA novels that partner with classics and this is a doozy. When an English teacher decides to pique resistent 10th grade students' interest with a barrel that the students whack with a fish club to guess what is in it, I was hooked. What a way to introduce a unit on Crime and Punishment! Three of 4 buddies are in this remedial English class together and take a whack at the barrel. It isn't until Mr. Haberman uses the example of a student being killed between classes in their school that their imaginations goes wild and they think Haberman killed their missing buddy Tommy and stuffed his body into the barrel. This isn't a pretty book by any means of the word, but you certainly can't help but keep reading to find out what exactly was in that barrel and what happened to Tommy. Definitely a HS level YA novel.

Now I feel a whole lot better that I have done a posting! I am in a good mood as I am actually caught up on my grading - that will last less than 24 hours, but I can celebrate for a little bit! :-)

I can't believe the last post was December 27th! Time flies when you're busy. Steve left for Kansas City the next day and I buried myself in getting Spring courses ready and finding the top of my desk. And then it was time to hit the road for North Carolina and a week of meetings. One more tomorrow morning and then I can head home. It is so darn cold that I don't think I will have to deal with snowy roads like I did on the way over on Tuesday.

For those of you who read my blog you may remember me talking about Coe Booth's Tyrell - http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Tyrell/Coe-Booth/e/9780439838795/?itm=4 a book that made me very uncomfortable and that is a good thing. If you can't remember a book, it didn't have that something that made it memorable. With Tyrell it was the blunt and very realistic depiction of a teenage guy's view of girls and sex. And, his need to be the man of the family and support his mother and younger brother at any cost. Coe Booth was at the YA Lit Symposium in Nashville and I was delighted to get a signed copy of Kendra,http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Kendra/Coe-Booth/e/9780439925365/?itm=1 her new edgy YA novel for HS age teens. Kendra is as memorable a character as Tyrell. They even live in the same neighborhood. At fourteen she cannot understand why her mother doesn't want her and is chafing at her grandmother's heavy hand to keep her from following in her mother's footsteps. But Kendra wants something to make her feel alive and needed and the bad boy at school introduces her to the pleasure of sex - every kind imaginable as long as she stays a "virgin". Kendra knows she should stay away from him but she just can't , even though her best friend (who is also her aunt) has a thing for the same guy. Things fall apart and her grandmother sends Kendra to live with her mother who has just completed her PhD - forcing them both to grow up and accept responsibility for their actions. Kendra will be popular, especially with teens who live in urban areas. Booth doesn't pull any punches in depicting the lifestyle of urban teens - disturbing and all too real.

That's it for tonight. Too dang tired to write more!

What could be better than a late breakfast of pecan pie and Earl Grey tea? Well, sitting on the floor going through books to send to the grandkids, of course! Thought I'd share a few of my favorites before they get sent on. These the ones I set aside because I wasn't sure I could part with them, even to the grandkids. But, better Mary read them to kids than they sit on my shelf with me wishing I could read to them.

Potato Joe by Keith Baker. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Potato-Joe/Keith-Baker/e/9780152062309/?itm=1 You all know the nursery song - one potato, two potato, three potato, four! Well these potatoes are having great fun at the rodeo with Watermelon Moe! Baker created the illustrations with Adobe Photoshop and they are so so cute - such expressive potato faces using simple facial features. Now I have the rhyme going through my head!

Five Little Firefighters by Tom Graham. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Five-Little-Firefighters/Tom-Graham/e/9780805086973/?itm=1 Nope - not a counting book at all. Not sure why Little has to be in the title, other than to entice someone to open the book up thinking it might be the counting rhyme. Instead, 5 mult-ethnic firefighters, one a woman, set out to put out a house fire and have to go in to find Cleo - the family cat. A great book for community helpers units in school, but my grandsons will love the firetruck illustrations in this small sized book.

Tadpole REX by Kurt Cyrus. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Tadpole-Rex/Kurt-Cyrus/e/9780152059903/?itm=1 I can just hear my grandsons reading along and shouting out the "Bloop. Bloop. Bloop." of the prehistoric muddle bubbles as a tadpole is coming to life. He might be the smallest thing around and when he gets big enough he lets out a roar - Ribbet!! All the dinosaurs craned their necks to see who "roared" but frog has slunk down under the mud so all that is showing is his eyes - watching the dinosaurs come and go. Remember, frog is still around long after the dinosaurs are gone. If you look really close into a frog's eye you might just see his inner tyrannosaur. :-) I love the over sized illustrations in this book and the author's note that frog were around for millions of year before even the dinosaurs he added to the illustrations.

1 2 Buckle My Shoe by Anna Grossnickle Hines. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/1-2-Buckle-My-Shoe/Anna-Gossnickle-Hines/e/9780152063054/?itm=1 This is the perfect book for my daughter to share with McKinley as Mary is into quilting again. Maybe this classic nursery rhyme illustrated with pictures of quick appliques will entice her to make a counting quilt.

Close to You: How Animals Bond by Kimiko Kajikawa. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Close-to-You/Kimiko-Kajikawa/e/9780805081237/?itm=1 If the cover photo of a mother polar bear and two cubs doesn't have you saying, "AHHHH!!" the mama giraffe giving her youngster a puckered up kiss will. Add to this mother/child animal pairs of manatees, snow monkeys, elephants, prairie dogs, and even alligators. Don't forget the human animals - they make up the last page. Great end matter in this book too. Animal web sites and a table of animal weights at birth vs. maturity. Polar bears - 1 1/2 lbs at birth, but up to 1,500 pounds at maturity!!

Okay - now to get these boxed up along with the clothes we bought at the after Christmas sale. Steve got a bit carried away, but it was fun to watch Grampa pick out clothes for the boys and girls both. I think he had the most fun picking out clothes for our oldest granddaughter Allyson and 5 year old Michael. They are going to be "stylin" when they back to school in January!

Couldn't sleep so Sophie and I have been up since a bit after 6:00. No matter how quietly I come out to get my first Diet Coke of the day, she hears me. Thank goodness she normally wants out so her morning conversation, more with herself than me, doesn't wake Steve.

This is one of the Mayan buildings in Chichen Itza. It was once an observatory but I think it looks like the ruins from a lighthouse. I forgot to get Steve his annual lighthouse calendar for Christmas so when we were in the mall yesterday he picked out one. There are very cool lighthouses from all over the world but my favorite is from back home - it is way out at the end of a pier in McClain State Park outside of Hancock, MI in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. http://www.michigan.org/Property/Detail.aspx?p=G15846 The pier both fascinated and frightened me as a child. A fun summer road trip would to visit all the places I remember as a kid in the UP. I have always been fascinated with the idea of living in a lighthouse. Don't remember what the book was I read as a child, but I think it was The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde H. Swift and illustrated by Lynn Ward. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Little-Red-Lighthouse-and-the-Great-Gray-Bridge/Hildegarde-H-Swift/e/9780152045715/?itm=3 This was published in 1942, but a new edition was reissued by Harcourt in 2002. This little lighthouse in near the Washington Bridge on the Hudson River. You might recognize Lynn Ward's name as he won the Caldecott in the mid 50s for The Biggest Bear http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Biggest-Bear/Lynd-Ward/e/9780395150245/?itm=5 which might not be very PC today, but a boy raising a bear rather than shooting one is not such a bad story to share, even today.

Books in which animals talk and interact much like humans are very popular with children and Kathi Appelt's first novel for children (she normally does NF and others types of picture books) The Underneath will be loved by children and adults alike. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Underneath/Kathi-Appelt/e/9781416950585/?itm=1 It was one of the books nominated for the Young People's Literature category of 2008 National Book Award. It did not win the award, but what an honor to be a nominee. Take a look at the the list of winner in the past: http://www.nationalbook.org/nba_winners_finalist_50_07.pdf

Appelt describes what it feels like to be loved and than abandoned by your human family as she begins her story with a pregnant cat being left beside the road near a bayou in NE Texas. She brought me to tears - and that was only the first couple of pages! Appelt's writing is sparse but lyrical as she tells the story of an abused Houston boy who makes his way into the swamps and become Gar-Face (due to his deformed jaw after being hit in the face by his father) - a mean and hateful man who enjoys killing as much as he does drinking the rotgut liquor he barters for with animal pelts. He's after the enormous alligator who has eluded him in the bayou for decades. Underneath the porch of his rundown house lives the hound he wounded in the leg during a hunting trip and considers worthless. And beside him, loving him are the abandoned mother cat and her two kittens. No family could be more bonded than this one hidden away in the Underneath. Tragedy strikes when one of the kittens ventures from the Underneath and is seen by Gar-Face. Cats make good bait for alligators. There are multiple stories flowing together in this book, merging as smoothly and languidly as the murky waters of the bayou, one being of Mother Moccasin who has been imprisoned in a earthen jar for centuries. Her story will weave itself into the tale of a lost kitten and his need to find his way back home to the Underneath. David Small's drawings supplement what is one of the most beautifully written children's novels I have read in quite some time. I believe it will become a classic, sitting beside my beloved Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Where-the-Red-Fern-Grows/Wilson-Rawls/e/9780553274295/?itm=1 as a favorite and often reread "big box of Kleenex" books. Check out Kathi's web site at http://kathiappelt.com/ She also writes for teens, along with great picture books. My favorite is Bats Around the Clock http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Bats-around-the-Clock/Kathi-Appelt/e/9780688164690/?itm=1 How can you not love a picture book that teaches time at the American Batstand with Click Dark as the host and the young bats bogeying around the clock?

Another award winning author, the well known John Green, also has a cool web site http://www.sparksflyup.com/ which one can spend way too much time on if you click through the links and wander far and wide. Who knew that Britney Spears is an anagram for Presbyterians? Talk about a guy who just radiates energy. I have heard him speak a couple of times (he's good), but when he sat next to me at the table during the YALSA Coffee Klatch I could see that he was jittering with nervous energy. He made me feel twitchy! But, a very likable dude! I was reading all the hype about Paper Towns http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Paper-Towns/John-Green/e/9780525478188/?itm=1 so I on the YA lit listservs finally read it and felt like I was reading another version of his debut YA novel that won the Printz Award - Looking for Alaska http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Looking-for-Alaska/John-Green/e/9780142402511/?itm=4 We have another immature HS age boy obsessed with a girl who is both selfish and smart and has the boy wrapped around her little finger. Quentin doesn't have to go off to private school to find his obsession, as Miles does in Looking for Alaska. Margo Roth Spiegelman lives right next door. He's secretly been in love with her since they were kids but it has been years since they played together. They certainly don't run in the same crowd at school and that isn't likely to ever change as graduation is fast approaching. However, when Margo is out to seek revenge for a broken heart (more like wounded pride), she shows up at Q's window dressed like a ninja and demands he be her companion for a night of breaking and entering the homes of the teens who wronged her. The antics are as mean as Margo - she isn't a nice girl, but Quentin doesn't care - he's obsessed. When she disappears, leaving behind angry and distraught parents (she's run away before), it is Quentin who finds her clues and sets off on his own adventure, visiting paper towns (plotted subdivisions where houses never "grew") in search of Margo. His best friends tag along for the final road trip in which he finds what he seeks, but was is it worth it? Felt too much like Green telling the same story with different characters and settings, but basically the same coming of age tale of the geeky boy obsessed with the wild girl. Will it be popular with teens? I think so, especially those who like his other books.

My picture book choice for today is Oscar and the Mooncats by Lynda Gene Rymond, illustrated by Nicoletta Ceccoli. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Oscar-and-the-Mooncats/Lynda-Gene-Rymond/e/9780618563166/?itm=1 This is a 2007 Houghton Mifflin book but it is one that I go back to again and again because of the beautiful illustrations. Using shades of gray, Ceccoli makes the craters of the moon and the Mooncats so inviting that even I want to visit, but just for a bit. No wonder Oscar jumps all the way to the moon to play with them. They beg him to stay and play and drink the milk the cow who jumps over the moon leaves behind in a crater. But it will eventually make Oscar forget about the boy who waits for him back home. Needing to get back to his boy, Oscar jumps onto the cow, but she warns him she does not go to Earth so he lets go and luckly lands right back home where his last jump is onto his boy's bed. But Oscar is already dreaming of his next adventure. I love this book!! A wonderful bedtime story for young and old cat lovers like myself. However, my Sophie is not so adventurous. She is even afraid of bunnies, real and stuffed. She comes flying into the house if a real one is in her yard. Steve gave her a little stuffed bunny with a squeaker in it for Christmas and she is not a happy camper if you squeak it or put it near her. Actually, the squeaker sounds more like NCIS Abbey's Bert the farting hippo! You can see and hear Bert at: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FS-0eN4vneI&feature=related

That's it for me today. The sun has come out!

I am not the best photographer as you all have discovered! But, no matter how poor it comes out, I always take a picture of each year's Christmas tree. This was taken this morning after I cleared up most of the stuff in the middle of the living room. A chair with our big Scrabble board was there too but I moved it. Steve has been beating me time after time at Scrabble. I love to play it but I am bad at it! I've only beat him a few times since we have met. I was playing Alphabugs online to increase my "weird word" vocabulary, but that didn't even help much.

The big box is the small aquarium I gave Steve for Christmas. He used to have a huge one that took up most of one wall in the house in Texas but we don't have as large of a house here so there isn't as much space. Thought a little one might help - we'll see. It supposedly is self contained once set up - only change out the filters every so often. I'll believe that when I see it.

As always, I received books from Steve. :-) Christmas morning I curled up in bed with a Diet Coke, the mattress pad heater on and Greg Kincaid's A Dog Named Christmas. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Dog-Named-Christmas/Greg-Kincaid/e/9780385525985/?itm=1 Todd McCray's father is a Vietnam vet who hasn't allowed a dog on the family's Kansas farm since his beloved childhood dog died while he was in the service and his life was saved when a dog he befriended in Vietnam stepped on a landmine before he could. But, it is Christmas and the pound is asking folks to take a dog home for the Holidays so they aren't left in the kennels alone while the staff spends Christmas at home. Todd is 20, but has the mind of a child and he wants more than anything else to take a dog home for the Holidays. Todd gets his way and a big black mutt he names Christmas rides between a reluctant father and jubilant son as the old truck rattles its way back to the farm. Christmas quickly becomes part of the family but Todd's father is adamant about taking him back to the pound on December 26th. This poignant story of a man dealing with his past is told from the viewpoint of Mr. McCray as he watches Christmas become part of his family. It is the advice of the elderly farmer nearby who helps McCray see what is right in front of him all along. It is a short book - started out as a short story that the author fleshed out. For me it was the perfect quick Christmas morning read. Make sure the Kleenex are around if you read this one.

It is raining here again today. It rained so hard Christmas Eve we had a river running through the grass between ours and the neighbor's house. Realizing we'd have a blizzard on our hands if it had been snow I had to pick up A Very Special Snowflake by Don Hoffman and illustrated by Todd Dakins. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Very-Special-Snowflake/Don-Hoffman/e/9780439901116/?itm=1 Christmas may be over but it is still the season for winter/snow books. Brother and sister go out in the snow with their white puppy Snowflake who promptly disappears into a snowbank. They walk the streets of their small town asking the florist, mailman, policewoman, etc. if they have seen Snowflake, but they all respond with weather comments, including the baker who says the snowflakes have inspired him to decorate his cakes with fluffy white icing. This repetitive tale will delight little ones, as of course, Snowflake bounds out of the snowbank and the community helpers see exactly what kind of snowflake the siblings are looking for. An inexpensive Scholastic paperback at $3.99 that makes for a fun after Christmas surprise.

Since McKinley won't be a year old until February I am always on the look out for fun board books for her. A new Little Scholastic title, Welcome Winter by Jill Ackerman and illustrated by Nancy Davis http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Welcome-Winter/Jill-Ackerman/e/9780545077934/?itm=1 fits the bill nicely since Mary's family is inundated with snow in Green Bay. The flocked snowflakes, crinkly paper to sound like footsteps in the snow, a fluffy hat, etc. are the perfect things for little fingers to touch. What is cool about the series for infants is the web site with tips and downloads: www.littlescholastic.com for parents. Back when Mary and Mic were babies Dr. Spock's classic book on child rearing was dog-eared. Believe it or not it is still available in the 15th edition Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Dr-Spocks-Baby-and-Child-Care/Benjamin-M-Spock/e/9780743476683/?itm=1 Benjamin Spock, a doc at Mayo Clinic, died in 1998, but Dr. Robert Needlman has revised it. I still think it is one of the best print resources out there for parents of little ones even though there are a myriad of parenting resources available today.

Time for me to get my act together and head out to find after Christmas sales on kids' clothes. Now to find the lists of what sizes they all are - from bitty to big!

Well, I finally have a few minutes to look through my pictures from our Cancun trip. I didn't take very many but I did like the cenote, pronounced: seh-NO-tay, http://www.docancun.com/cenotes.htm that we visited outside of Cancun on our way to the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza http://www.cancuntoday.net/ruins/chichen.php

These pics were taken from the top, looking down in. A very long set of steps went down to the swimming area. There was a high dive spot that folks were crazy enough to drive/jump from. I'd like to tell you that the pic is of me jumping off, but I didn't go swimming. But, when I was teenager I would have been one of the first, as we jumped off of cliffs and other dumb things at the lake - even after I broke my big toe one summer when I hit a rock on the bottom. My inner child could see myself swinging out over the water on one of the vines but there were warning signs everywhere not to touch them.

The weather is hardly Mexican hot and dry here today. It had been raining all morning but finally stopped - no sun, just dark gray clouds suggesting more rain later. Monday we get a snowstorm and arctic temps and today it is in the 50s. So it won't be Christmasy weather tonight when we go to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra. http://www.trans-siberian.com/index-main.php I have been a fan for many years and have been known to bake Christmas cookies while conducting with a wooden spoon! This will be our second year to see them at the Rupp Arena. Downtown Lexington is quite gorgeous right now with all the lights - many of them in UK blue. We were in Mexico for the annual Christmas Parade downtown but we froze our bippies last year and I was too cold to even wait for the big tree lighting.

For those of you looking for the perfect book to make any middle age girl smile add a copy of Maria Padian's Brett McCarthy: Work in Progress. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Bret-McCarthy/Maria-Padian/e/9780375846755/?itm=1 under the tree. Actually, I'd have given a copy of this to my mom if she were still alive. Mom loved words and so does Brett - many of her favorites are chapter titles, such as irrational, insolence, bazooka, unprecedented, etc. This is one of those books for all generations as Brett's grandmother, Nonna, is a most quirky, delightful character - a grandmother we would all love to have in our family. As I read I pictured Nonna and my mom in Nonna's garage working on putting "junk" to good use. My mom hated to see anything go to waste just like Nonna, but Mom made killer apple bars, not Super-Sized Raspberry Chunk Brownies like Nonna. Oh what I wouldn't do for a piece of Mom's apple bar right now. I've tried to make them but they just don't taste the same not baked in Mom's wood stove. I think this book will entice those wonderful early adolescent memories from any adult reader's mind, so don't shy away from giving it as a gift to your favorite aunt or older sister. Oh, and that favorite poetry lover in your family - Brett's dad is an English Professor and is quoting line of poetry at the oddest moments, but what a cool dad!

Would be a great read aloud in a MS classroom as it addresses so many of the issues younger teens deal with - bullying, peer-relationships, family situations, geeky vs. cool friends, etc. And, teachers can think of it as a sneaky way to teach some really cool new vocabulary words and poetry!

Anyway, back to Brett - she is a 14-year-old soccer player in a small Maine town who has never gotten into trouble, but that all ends when she is kicked out of school, loses her female best friend over The Phone Thing, and finds out her beloved Nonna has cancer. Like all 14-year-olds, Brett fumbles her way into adolescence, but also gets an occasional glimpse into the exceptional young woman she will become. At her side is her geeky male best friend Michael who loves Nonna as much as Brett, so much so that he risks them both in a late night drive to the marina to steal a boat. Brett knows Nonna is on Spruce Island for one last visit.

Brett tells it all in her blunt Maine manner, making the reader cringe at times, but you can't help but love this girl. If I had this book when Mary was in MS and we were snowed in, as often happened in Alaska during the Holiday Break, we'd be reading this one aloud together. We'd also be having fun creating sentences with Brett's favorite words with the very cool PR set of "Kickin' Word Magnets". This a book for both giving and receiving no matter what time of the year it is. Sounds weird, but it is a really great "feel good" book that you also need a box of Kleenex nearby when you read.

And let's not forget a fun picture book for the Holidays - Bunny Wishes: A Winter's Tale by Michaela Morgan and delightfully illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Bunny-Wishes/Michaela-Morgan/e/9780439918121/?itm=2 Valenteeny (Teeny) and Valentino (Tino) are two of the happiest bunnies around, friends with all the other creatures, including the new baby mice who are scampering everywhere. Winter has arrived and the two bunnies are snug in the burrow but venture out long enough to pin their wish lists onto the hollow log as it is "a Very Special Time of the Year" when your wishes can come true. But, as it is winter after all, a gust of wind "whooshed those lists right off the hollow log and into the air..." Well, the baby mice are still out there playing and when these two big new playthings fall out of the sky they use them to make sleds, telescopes and little hats. Eventually Mr. and Mrs. Mouse discover what their little ones have done to the bunnies' wish lists. But, it is a Very Special Time of the Year when wishes do come true and the mice have their own way of making Bunny Wishes come true. What a fun book for the Holidays. You might recognize these two note writing bunnies from their Valentine Day romance - Dear Bunny: A Bunny Love Story - http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Dear-Bunny/Michaela-Morgan/e/9780439748339/?itm=4. Perfect for toddler and preschool storytime or to read to your own honey bunny.

Can you believe less than a week until Christmas? I need to get Steve's presents wrapped and under the tree so Sophie can hide behind them.